Four Impediments to Embedding Education for Sustainability in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Gale, Fred; Davison, Aidan; Wood, Graham; Williams, Stewart; Towle, Nick

2015-01-01

Higher education institutions have an unavoidable responsibility to address the looming economic, environmental and social crises imperilling humans and ecosystems by placing "education for sustainability" at the heart of their concerns. Yet, for over three decades, the practice of 'higher education for sustainability' (HEfS) has…

A Methodology for Sustainability Evaluation and Reporting in Higher Education Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Madeira, Ana C.; Carravilla, Maria Antonia; Oliveira, Jose F.; Costa, Carlos A. V.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology that allows higher education institutions (HEIs) to promote, to evaluate and to report on sustainability. The ultimate goal of the afore-mentioned methodology is to help HEIs achieve sustainability. First, a model entitled Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions (SusHEI) that generally…

Is Higher Education Economically Unsustainable? An Exploration of Factors That Undermine Sustainability Assessments of Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Maragakis, Antonios; van den Dobbelsteen, Andy; Maragakis, Alexandros

2016-01-01

As students continue to review the sustainability of higher education institutions, there is a growing need to understand the economic returns of degrees as a function of a sustainable institution. This paper reviews a range of international research to summarize the economic drivers of higher education attainment. Although the cost inputs to…

Mapping the relationship between higher education and sustainable development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Claus; Martinsen, Anders

2015-01-01

are in a conflict with each other and with respect to understanding of as well higher education, in casu the curriculum and assessment activity of the university, as sustainable development – and, first of all, it gives rise to very different conditions for future forms of life and learning inside as well......The article presents different approaches to the relationship between higher education and sustainable development. The purpose is firstly to provide an overview of four main approaches to this relationship and these approaches’ key conflicts. Secondly, the purpose is to argue that the approach...... "lifelong learning skills for a resilient life" is beginning to establish itself as part of a main conflict with the approach "necessary knowledge for a secured life". That is to say that these two approaches to the question of the relationship between higher education and sustainable development...

Sustainability in Higher Education: An explorative approach on sustainable behavior in two universities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Juárez Nájera (Margarita)

2010-01-01

textabstractThis thesis focuses on identifying psychological factors related to personality features which can influence sustainable behavior of individuals in higher educational institutions (HEI), as well as to present the areas where these individuals work, and in which higher education for

Higher Education Sustainability Staffing Survey, 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2011

2011-01-01

This paper shows that despite national unemployment rates that hovered near 10 percent in 2010, those with positions in the higher education sustainability workforce report a sense of job security and feel satisfied with the work they are doing. With 433 completed surveys, the results offer a comprehensive look at the demographics, roles, salaries…

Sustainability Assessment of Higher Education Institutions in Saudi Arabia

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Habib M. Alshuwaikhat

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Universities are paramount change drivers in bringing about a culture of sustainability in society by setting themselves up as models and nurseries for sustainable development. Thus, assessment of sustainability integration within universities is key to their impact on sustainable development. This study conducted an assessment of different public sector universities of Saudi Arabia based on five components: (i Teaching and Curriculum; (ii Research and Scholarship; (iii Campus Operations; (iv Management and Community; and (v Financial Management. The sustainability assessment questionnaire (SAQ was utilized as a tool to discern the component-wise sustainability assessment for Saudi universities. The outcomes of the survey reveal that, in stark contrast with the universities of the developed world, offerings of sustainability relevant academic courses in Saudi Arabia are still lacking. Most Saudi universities still need to integrate research and scholarship in the area of sustainability; sustainable-campus operations in the current scenario are not sufficient. The results also reveal that sustainability-related projects are not prioritized within universities and sustainable financial management practices are not significant. This article concludes by proposing some recommendations emphasizing the importance of adopting sustainability practices in Saudi universities.

Who Really Cares About Higher Education For Sustainable Development?

OpenAIRE

Torsten Richter; Kim P. Schumacher

2011-01-01

Problem statement: It is agreed that integrating Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD) into the curricula of universities is of key importance to disseminate the idea of sustainability. Especially the curricula of teacher-training should contain elements of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) due to the crucial role of future teachers in information propagation. Approach: In order to find out about the spreading of ESD into the curricula and whether or not it is of inter...

Building Better Buildings: Sustainable Building Activities in California Higher Education Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Sowell, Arnold; Eichel, Amanda; Alevantis, Leon; Lovegreen, Maureen

2003-01-01

This article outlines the activities and recommendations of California's sustainable building task force, discusses sustainable building activities in California's higher education systems, and highlights key issues that California is grappling with in its implementation of sustainable building practices. (EV)

Plasma response to sustainment with imposed-dynamo current drive in HIT-SI and HIT-SI3

Science.gov (United States)

Hossack, A. C.; Jarboe, T. R.; Chandra, R. N.; Morgan, K. D.; Sutherland, D. A.; Penna, J. M.; Everson, C. J.; Nelson, B. A.

2017-07-01

The helicity injected torus—steady inductive (HIT-SI) program studies efficient, steady-state current drive for magnetic confinement plasmas using a novel experimental method. Stable, high-beta spheromaks have been sustained using steady, inductive current drive. Externally induced loop voltage and magnetic flux are oscillated together so that helicity and power injection are always positive, sustaining the edge plasma current indefinitely. Imposed-dynamo current drive (IDCD) theory further shows that the entire plasma current is sustained. The method is ideal for low aspect ratio, toroidal geometries with closed flux surfaces. Experimental studies of spheromak plasmas sustained with IDCD have shown stable magnetic profiles with evidence of pressure confinement. New measurements show coherent motion of a stable spheromak in response to the imposed perturbations. On the original device two helicity injectors were mounted on either side of the spheromak and the injected mode spectrum was predominantly n  =  1. Coherent, rigid motion indicates that the spheromak is stable and a lack of plasma-generated n  =  1 energy indicates that the maximum q is maintained below 1 during sustainment. Results from the HIT-SI3 device are also presented. Three inductive helicity injectors are mounted on one side of the spheromak flux conserver. Varying the relative injector phasing changes the injected mode spectrum which includes n  =  2, 3, and higher modes.

Empowerment for Sustainability in Higher Education through the EYE Learning Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Tassone, Valentina C.; Dik, Giel; van Lingen, Thekla Anna

2017-01-01

Purpose: While empowerment for sustainability is considered a major objective within sustainability-oriented educational programs and policies, little is known about the actual process of empowering students for sustainability through higher education. This study aims to explore this field, by introducing the EYE (Educating Yourself in…

Learning Apart Together: Towards an Integrated Competence Framework for Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Higher Education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lans, T.; Blok, V.; Wesselink, R.

2014-01-01

Sustainable entrepreneurs, i.e. those who proactively facilitate latent demands for sustainable development, are now in higher demand than ever before. Higher (business) education can play an important role in laying the foundation for these sustainable entrepreneurs. Traditionally, however,

Role of ICT in Managing Higher Education for Sustainable ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It highlighted the ranking of some factors hindering effective usage of ICT in the management of higher education for sustainable development. In light of these findings, it is recommended that ICT facilities are made available and accessible in higher institutions and that relevant end-user training be provided to enhance ...

Creating Sustainable Societies: Developing Emerging Professionals through Transforming Current Mindsets

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Griswold, Wendy

2017-01-01

Future professionals will bear the brunt of creating sustainable societies. Equipping them for the task is the challenge of current educators. Educational experiences facilitating the development of sustainable habits of mind are needed. This research reports on the experiences of developing scientists and engineers engaged in a sustainable energy…

Exploring the Current Position of ESD in UK Higher Education Institutions

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Fiselier, Evelien S.; Longhurst, James W. S.; Gough, Georgina K.

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the position of education for sustainable development in the UK Higher Education (HE) sector with respect to the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Higher Education Academy (HEA) Guidance for education for sustainable development (ESD). Design/methodology/approach: By means of a mixed-method…

Sustainability of UK shale gas in comparison with other electricity options: Current situation and future scenarios.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Jasmin; Stamford, Laurence; Azapagic, Adisa

2018-04-01

Many countries are considering exploitation of shale gas but its overall sustainability is currently unclear. Previous studies focused mainly on environmental aspects of shale gas, largely in the US, with scant information on socio-economic aspects. To address this knowledge gap, this paper integrates for the first time environmental, economic and social aspects of shale gas to evaluate its overall sustainability. The focus is on the UK which is on the cusp of developing a shale gas industry. Shale gas is compared to other electricity options for the current situation and future scenarios up to the year 2030 to investigate whether it can contribute towards a more sustainable electricity mix in the UK. The results obtained through multi-criteria decision analysis suggest that, when equal importance is assumed for each of the three sustainability aspects shale gas ranks seventh out of nine electricity options, with wind and solar PV being the best and coal the worst options. However, it outranks biomass and hydropower. Changing the importance of the sustainability aspects widely, the ranking of shale gas ranges between fourth and eighth. For shale gas to become the most sustainable option of those assessed, large improvements would be needed, including a 329-fold reduction in environmental impacts and 16 times higher employment, along with simultaneous large changes (up to 10,000 times) in the importance assigned to each criterion. Similar changes would be needed if it were to be comparable to conventional or liquefied natural gas, biomass, nuclear or hydropower. The results also suggest that a future electricity mix (2030) would be more sustainable with a lower rather than a higher share of shale gas. These results serve to inform UK policy makers, industry and non-governmental organisations. They will also be of interest to other countries considering exploitation of shale gas. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Current drive and sustain experiments with the bootstrap current in JT-60

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kikuchi, Mitsuru; Azumi, Masafumi; Tani, Keiji; Tsuji, Shunji; Kubo, Hirotaka

1989-11-01

The current drive and sustain experiments with the neoclassical bootstrap current are performed in the JT-60 tokamak. It is shown that up to 80% of total plasma current is driven by the bootstrap current in extremely high β p regime (β p = 3.2) and the current drive product I p (bootstrap) n-bar e R p up to 4.4 x 10 19 MAm -2 has been attained with the bootstrap current. The experimental resistive loop voltages are compared with the calculations using the neoclassical resistivity with and without the bootstrap current and the Spitzer resistivity for a wide range of the plasma current (I p = 0.5 -2 MA) and the poloidal beta (β p = 0.1 - 3.2). The calculated resistive loop voltage is consistent with the neoclassical prediction including the bootstrap current. Current sustain with the bootstrap current is tested by terminating the I p feedback control during the high power neutral beam heating. An enhancement of the L/R decay time than those expected from the plasma resistivity with measured T e and Zeff has been confirmed experimentally supporting the large non-inductive current in the plasma and is consistent with the neoclassical prediction. A new technique to calculate the bootstrap current in multi-collisionality regime for finite aspect ratio tokamak has bee developed. The neoclassical bootstrap current is calculated directly through the force balance equations between viscous and friction forces according to the Hirshman-Sigmar theory. The bootstrap current driven by the fast ion component is also included. Ballooning stability of the high β p plasma are analyzed using the current profiles including the bootstrap current. The plasma pressure is close to the ballooning limit in high β p discharges. (author)

Sustainability, Indicators, and Institutions of Higher Education. Chapter 42

Science.gov (United States)

Indicators of commitment to sustainability commonly applied to institutions of higher education provide no estimate of the actual effects that these institutions have on the persistence or prevalence of the socioecological systems that encompass them. Emergy methodology provides ...

Analytic description of tokamak equilibrium sustained by high fraction bootstrap current

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi Bingren

2002-01-01

Recently, to save the current drive power and to obtain more favorable confinement merit for tokamak reactor, large faction bootstrap current sustained equilibrium has attracted great interests both theoretically and experimentally. An powerful expanding technique and the tokamak ordering are used to expand the Grad-Shafranov equation to obtain a series of ordinary differential equations which allow for different sets of input parameters. The fully bootstrap current sustained tokamak equilibria are then solved analytically

Is Current Account of Turkey Sustainable ? Evidence from Nonlinear Unit Root Tests

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Serkan Taştan

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper, current account sustainability of Turkey is analyzed in a nonlinear framework. Various nonlinear unit root tests have been used to test for structural break, sign and size nonlinearity. We have tested structural break and size nonlinearity separately and structural break-sign and size-sign nonlinearities simultaneously. Only considering the size nonlinearity, we have found that the current account of Turkey is sustainable. Thus, the size nonlinearity, in other words the speed of reversion to equilibrium, is essential for the current account sustainability of Turkey. We have also found that the speed of adjustment towards equilibrium is symmetric, while considering size and sign nonlinearities simultaneously.

How to Assess Transformative Performance towards Sustainable Development in Higher Education Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Mader, Clemens

2012-01-01

This article highlights the role of sustainability appraisal for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Traditional HEI appraisal systems lack a way to assess the integration of sustainability principles reflecting societal needs with the consequences of research, education and management of HEIs. Two appraisal systems are discussed. The Austrian…

Higher spin currents in the orthogonal coset theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahn, Changhyun [Kyungpook National University, Department of Physics, Taegu (Korea, Republic of)

2017-06-15

In the coset model (D{sub N}{sup (1)} + D{sub N}{sup (1)}, D{sub N}{sup (1)}) at levels (k{sub 1}, k{sub 2}), the higher spin 4 current that contains the quartic WZW currents contracted with a completely symmetric SO(2N) invariant d tensor of rank 4 is obtained. The three-point functions with two scalars are obtained for any finite N and k{sub 2} with k{sub 1} = 1. They are determined also in the large N 't Hooft limit. When one of the levels is the dual Coxeter number of SO(2N), k{sub 1} = 2N - 2, the higher spin (7)/(2) current, which contains the septic adjoint fermions contracted with the above d tensor and the triple product of structure constants, is obtained from the operator product expansion (OPE) between the spin (3)/(2) current living in the N = 1 superconformal algebra and the above higher spin 4 current. The OPEs between the higher spin (7)/(2), 4 currents are described. For k{sub 1} = k{sub 2} = 2N - 2 where both levels are equal to the dual Coxeter number of SO(2N), the higher spin 3 current of U(1) charge (4)/(3), which contains the six products of spin (1)/(2) (two) adjoint fermions contracted with the product of the d tensor and two structure constants, is obtained. The corresponding N = 2 higher spin multiplet is determined by calculating the remaining higher spin (7)/(2), (7)/(2), 4 currents with the help of two spin (3)/(2) currents in the N = 2 superconformal algebra. The other N = 2 higher spin multiplet, whose U(1) charge is opposite to the one of the above N = 2 higher spin multiplet, is obtained. The OPE between these two N = 2 higher spin multiplets is also discussed. (orig.)

Social Media for Environmental Sustainability Awareness in Higher Education

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Hamid, Suraya; Ijab, Mohamad Taha; Sulaiman, Hidayah; Anwar, Rina Md.; Norman, Azah Anir

2017-01-01

Purpose: The explosion of social media use such as Facebook among higher education students is deemed to have great potential in widely disseminating environmental sustainability awareness. The paper aims to capture, summarise, synthesise and comment on the role of social media to garner interest of students and staff on environmental…

Ethical Internationalisation in Higher Education: Interfaces with International Development and Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Pashby, Karen; de Oliveira Andreotti, Vanessa

2016-01-01

This analysis is situated within a larger project focusing on ethics and internationalisation in higher education. Internationalisation is occurring at a fast pace and encompasses overlapping and contradictory aims largely framed by market imperatives. At the same time, institutions of higher education increasingly promote sustainability. We use a…

Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Current Practice and Future Development: A Case Study of University of Calabar-Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

Ajake, Uchenna E.; Omori, Anne E.; Essien, Margaret

2011-01-01

The study highlighted the Nigerian Universities' new sustainable development strategies: emphasizes the role that entrepreneurship education can play in both raising awareness among young people about sustainable development and giving them the skills to put sustainable development into practice. Universities place priority on the development of…

Higher education : Features, trends and needs in relation to sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maragakis, A.; Van den Dobbelsteen, A.A.J.F.

2013-01-01

The progress of sustainability within higher education has steadily increased in focus over the last decade and has increasingly become a topic of academic research. With various scholars, journals and conferences exclusively dealing with the subject, a wealth of literature has been produced on best

Supporting the Integration of Sustainability into Higher Education Curricula—A Case Study from Switzerland

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Sandra Wilhelm Hamiti

2014-05-01

Full Text Available From the perspective of different stakeholders, education for sustainable development (ESD in higher education is highly desirable. In practice, however, this may present challenges, as it involves systemic and cultural changes as well as organizational transformation. A working group at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences supported such a transformative process with the aim of fostering, linking and subsequently deepening the dimensions of sustainable development in the existing curricula. By means of an assessment tool (spider diagram developed through a bottom-up action research procedure, the working group initiated a discussion on sustainability among university lecturers, research associates and students. Results support the hypothesis that resistance to incorporating dimensions of sustainability into the curriculum can effectively be avoided by such an approach. The effectiveness of the assessment tool increased the commitment and the willingness of lecturers to share a common goal of demonstrating the relevance of sustainability in higher education.

Temperature dependence of the current to sustain a normal hotspot in superconducting microbridges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamaguchi, Y.; Ishii, C.

1981-01-01

A modification of the boundary condition to determine the SN boundary in the hotspot model of superconducting microbridges is proposed and successfully applied to the interpretation of recent measurements of the hotspot-sustaining current by Mizuno and Aomine. It is shown that suppression of the order parameter due to the applied current gives rise to an additional temperature dependence of the hotspot-sustaining current in the extreme vicinity of the transition temperature. (orig.)

Leadership for Sustainability Perceptions in Higher Education Institutions in Oman

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Sadiq; Albarwani, Thuwayba

2015-01-01

This study explores leadership in higher education institutions in Oman where education for sustainability issues are a high priority. The Vice-chancellor of the premier university Sultan Qaboos University, Qaboos Sultanate of Oman, and his four senior management team members answer the following question: What are the concrete steps which have…

Method-Based Higher Education in Sustainability: The Potential of the Scenario Method

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Richard Beecroft

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Both sustainability and education are challenging process-oriented objectives. When the aim is to combine both notions, as in Higher Education in Sustainability (HES, it is indispensable to first establish a common ground between them. In this paper, we characterise this common ground in terms of four aspects: future orientation, normativity, global perspective, and theory engaged in practice. Based on an analysis of the common ground, one method that is well-established in a wide range of sustainability sciences shows high potential for use in HES because it covers all four aspects in detail: the scenario method. We argue that a didactical reconstruction of the scenario method is necessary to utilise its potential and develop adequate forms of teaching in higher education. The scenario method is used to construct and analyse a set of alternative future developments to support decisions that have to be made in the present. Didactical reconstruction reveals a spectrum of objectives for which the scenario method can be employed: (1 projection; (2 teleological planning and (3 an explorative search for possibilities not yet considered. By studying and experimenting with this spectrum of objectives, students in HES can develop fundamental reflexive competencies in addressing the future in different ways that are relevant for both sustainability and education.

Greening academia: Developing sustainable waste management at Higher Education Institutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, N.; Williams, I.D.; Kemp, S.; Smith, N.F.

2011-01-01

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are often the size of small municipalities. Worldwide, the higher education (HE) sector has expanded phenomenally; for example, since the 1960s, the United Kingdom (UK) HE system has expanded sixfold to >2.4 million students. As a consequence, the overall production of waste at HEIs throughout the world is very large and presents significant challenges as the associated legislative, economic and environmental pressures can be difficult to control and manage. This paper critically reviews why sustainable waste management has become a key issue for the worldwide HE sector to address and describes some of the benefits, barriers, practical and logistical problems. As a practical illustration of some of the issues and problems, the four-phase waste management strategy developed over 15 years by one of the largest universities in Southern England - the University of Southampton (UoS) - is outlined as a case study. The UoS is committed to protecting the environment by developing practices that are safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly and has developed a practical, staged approach to manage waste in an increasingly sustainable fashion. At each stage, the approach taken to the development of infrastructure (I), service provision (S) and behavior change (B) is explained, taking into account the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) factors. Signposts to lessons learned, good practice and useful resources that other institutions - both nationally and internationally - can access are provided. As a result of the strategy developed at the UoS, from 2004 to 2008 waste costs fell by around Pounds 125k and a recycling rate of 72% was achieved. The holistic approach taken - recognizing the PESTLE factors and the importance of a concerted ISB approach - provides a realistic, successful and practical example for other institutions wishing to effectively and sustainably manage their waste.

Exploring sustainable behavior structure in higher education a socio-psychology confirmatory approach

CERN Document Server

Juárez-Nájera, Margarita

2015-01-01

This book presents a social-psychology model delineating the factors that may influence in an altruistic manner sustainable behaviour (SB) of students, faculty and administrators in four higher education institutions (HEI) with very different economic and social characteristics. It presents the areas where these individuals work (education and community management), and in which of them education for sustainability is promoted, focusing on four alternative methods of learning: play, art, group therapy, and personnel management. The book is intended for bachelors and graduated students, as well as researchers in social psychology, environmental psychology, conservation psychology, environmental education, education for sustainable development, cross-cultural psychology, and social sciences.

ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICITS IN CAMEROON

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Edouard T. Djeutem

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Two approaches are used to analyze the sustainability of the current account deficits of Cameroon in order to find out whether current economic policies are sound enough to guarantee the country’ s financial solvency. The first uses a structural procedure to compare current account deficits relative to an optimal benchmark using the Campbell-Shiller’s methodology. The second uses a reduced form approach to test for intertemporal budget constraint through cointegration tests between imports and exports plus net transfer payments on foreign obligations. Our results suggest that the current account imbalances for Cameroon based on data from the period 1970-2002 are “excessive” and the deficits are currently unsustainable.

Sustainable Leadership, Organizational Trust on Job Satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from Higher Education Institutions in Syria

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Serene Dalati

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This research develops a theoretical model of sustainable leadership, organizational trust and satisfaction at work in higher education environment in Syria. The model assesses staff perception of outstanding leadership behaviors and examines its relationship with perceived organizational trust in the field of higher education institutions in Syria. This research examines a conceptual framework identifying outstanding leadership styles and behaviors which are associated with sustainable leadership, organisational trust identified by members’ trust in their coworkers, and job satisfaction at an institutional level. The research methodology applied in this research develops a quantitative approach through application of questionnaire survey. To measure the dimensionality of scale factors an exploratory factor analysis is conducted. Reliability analysis is performed, Cronbach alpha test indicates that the research scales are internally consistent. The sample of the study employed a convenience sample from higher education institutions. The managerial implication of the research study recommends application and adoption of sustainable leadership behaviors among functional, mid and senior levels of managers and academics in management positions in higher education institutions. The limitation of research is mainly indicated in the sample size and measurement scales of sustainable leadership, organizational trust and job satisfaction.

Quality Assurance in Higher Technical Education and the Context of Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development

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Olufunmilayo T. Iyunade, Ph.D

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Recent empirical evidences on higher technical education at a national scale focused on the relevance, student’s poor perception, low enrolment and progression rates, and the growing impact of globalization on the management of higher technical and vocational education with little or no reference point to the factor of quality assurance. This paper therefore correlates quality assurance factors in higher technical education and the context of youth empowerment for sustainable development. A survey of public technical colleges was done in Ogun State. From an estimate population of 637 final year students and 28 instructors and management staff, a simple of 376 students and 17 instructors and management staff were selected using the stratify random sampling technique. A 4-point rating scale validated questionnaires tagged: ‘Higher Technical Education, Youth Empowerment and Sustainable Development Scale (HTEYESDS (r=0.79, complemented with focus Group Discussion (FGD was used for data collection. Three research questions were raised and answered. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics of Pearson correlation, multiple regression and analysis of variance at 0.05 apha level. Results showed that poor quality assurance limits the capacity of higher technical education in the empowerment of youth for sustainable development (82.6%. Quality assurance factors significantly correlated with higher technical education in the empowerment of youth for sustainable development (r=0.188; P < 0.05. It was therefore recommended that government should neither neglect nor compromise the factors of quality assurance in higher technical education as they predicts youth empowerment drive in the system.

Sustainability Design in Higher Education: Curriculum, Teaching Methods, and Program Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Sydow, Brooke C.

2012-01-01

Due to the growing problems of an unsustainable world, this qualitative, phenomenological study was designed to investigate the process of developing and integrating sustainability curriculum into general education requirements in higher education. The researcher interviewed six participants from different parts of the world who had first-hand…

Education for sustainability: A new challenge for the current university model

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Ana Fernández Pérez

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Education for Sustainable Development aims to disseminate and promote a set of principles and values within the university model through management, teaching, research and university extension. It does not focus on a specific area but covers many areas such as equality, peace, health, sustainable urbanization, the environment. The objective of this study is to make an appeal in all these areas so that universities incorporate the dimension of sustainability in their curricula, through teaching, research and university management. For this, the different international and regional initiatives that have emphasized the need for Universities to be committed to the culture of sustainability and their inclusion in the current university model have been analyzed. The work will conclude with the idea that a sustainable development is perhaps one of the key pieces in the conception of the University of the 21st century.

Sustained diffusive alternating current gliding arc discharge in atmospheric pressure air

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Jiajian; Gao, Jinlong; Li, Zhongshan; Ehn, Andreas; Aldén, Marcus; Larsson, Anders; Kusano, Yukihiro

2014-12-01

Rapid transition from glow discharge to thermal arc has been a common problem in generating stable high-power non-thermal plasmas especially at ambient conditions. A sustained diffusive gliding arc discharge was generated in a large volume in atmospheric pressure air, driven by an alternating current (AC) power source. The plasma column extended beyond the water-cooled stainless steel electrodes and was stabilized by matching the flow speed of the turbulent air jet with the rated output power. Comprehensive investigations were performed using high-speed movies measured over the plasma column, synchronized with simultaneously recorded current and voltage waveforms. Dynamic details of the novel non-equilibrium discharge are revealed, which is characterized by a sinusoidal current waveform with amplitude stabilized at around 200 mA intermediate between thermal arc and glow discharge, shedding light to the governing mechanism of the sustained spark-suppressed AC gliding arc discharge.

A Business Intelligence Framework for Sustainability Information Management in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Scholtz, Brenda; Calitz, Andre; Haupt, Ross

2018-01-01

Purpose: Higher education institutions (HEIs) face a number of challenges in effectively managing and reporting on sustainability information, such as siloes of data and a limited distribution of information. Business intelligence (BI) can assist in addressing the challenges faced by organisations. The purpose of this study was to propose a BI…

TOURISM STUDIES IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION IN SWEDEN: FOCUSING ON SUSTAINABILITY

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Olga Milinchuk

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper the Swedish higher tourism education is presented by analyzing the development of tourism education. Descriptive information of English taught University programs has been collected with a purpose to gain a deeper understanding of the general features of tourism higher education in Sweden. Methodology. The paper is based on a web-based content analysis of Swedish universities’ web-sites. In total six master degree programs at five universities were analyzed. Results of the analysis showed that the first Swedish academic program in tourism was opened in 1978 and from its inception tourism education is of growing significance. Instead of the higher number of degree programs in tourism, which are taught in Swedish, there is a limited number of those taught in English. Just one Bachelor Programme is taught in English in International Tourism is developed at Dalarna University and one Ph.D. Programme in Tourism is developed at Mid Sweden University. Master programs related to tourism are offered at Dalarna University, Linnaeus University, Lund University, Mid Sweden University, and Umeå University. Based on the curricula analysis of these programs, five main themes are identified: 1 tourism as a social phenomenon; 2 sustainable development of tourism; 3 tourism destination development; 4 economics of tourism, and 5 tourism through service studies. The findings show that the major university programs in tourism adopt an interdisciplinary approach, which combines elements of social sciences, humanities, and business administration. According to the observed curricula, the view on tourism as on social phenomenon prevails. In the studying process, the concept of sustainable development and classical social concepts such as ethnicity, gender, class, culture, and power relations are widely integrated into different tourism courses, making the programs comprehensive, and attractive for international students. The recognition of the tourism

The Future We Want: Key Issues on Sustainable Development in Higher Education after Rio and the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

Science.gov (United States)

Leal Filho, Walter; Manolas, Evangelos; Pace, Paul

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a description of the achievements of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) with a focus on higher education, and it describes some of the key issues which will guide sustainable development in the coming years. Design/methodology/approach: The paper initially…

Revolutions and Second-Best Solutions: Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Cotton, Debby; Bailey, Ian; Warren, Martyn; Bissell, Susie

2009-01-01

Despite widespread policy support for education for sustainable development in higher education, and a strong academic literature arguing for a radical rethink of curriculum, pedagogy and institutional culture, progress towards the educational reforms advocated remains limited. Based on in-depth interviews with lecturers at a case-study…

Teaching Sustainability Using an Active Learning Constructivist Approach: Discipline-Specific Case Studies in Higher Education

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Maria Kalamas Hedden

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present our rationale for using an active learning constructivist approach to teach sustainability-related topics in a higher education. To push the boundaries of ecological literacy, we also develop a theoretical model for sustainability knowledge co-creation. Drawing on the experiences of faculty at a major Southeastern University in the United States, we present case studies in architecture, engineering, geography, and marketing. Four Sustainability Faculty Fellows describe their discipline-specific case studies, all of which are project-based learning experiences, and include details regarding teaching and assessment. Easily replicated in other educational contexts, these case studies contribute to the advancement of sustainability education.

Rewards boost sustained attention through higher effort: A value-based decision making approach.

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Massar, Stijn A A; Lim, Julian; Sasmita, Karen; Chee, Michael W L

2016-10-01

Maintaining sustained attention over time is an effortful process limited by finite cognitive resources. Recent theories describe the role of motivation in the allocation of such resources as a decision process: the costs of effortful performance are weighed against its gains. We examined this hypothesis by combining methods from attention research and decision neuroscience. Participants first performed a sustained attention task at different levels of reward. They then performed a reward-discounting task, measuring the subjective costs of performance. Results demonstrated that higher rewards led to improved performance (Exp 1-3), and enhanced attentional effort (i.e. pupil diameter; Exp 2 & 3). Moreover, discounting curves constructed from the choice task indicated that subjects devalued rewards that came at the cost of staying vigilant for a longer duration (Exp 1 & 2). Motivation can thus boost sustained attention through increased effort, while sustained performance is regarded as a cost against which rewards are discounted. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sustainability in Higher Education's Annual Reports: An Empirical Study on Australian and Austrian Universities

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Schaffhauser-Linzatti, Michaela Maria; Ossmann, Stefan F.

2018-01-01

Purpose: Higher education institutions are regarded as forerunners and pioneers of sustainability. However, it is to question whether they actually fulfill their role model function. This paper aims to reveal whether selected universities in Australia and Austria meet the reporting expectations about their activities on sustainability in very…

Sustainability and Built Environment: The role of Higher Education in Architecture and Building Engineering

OpenAIRE

Emilia Conte

2016-01-01

The sustainability paradigm implies a cultural shift in order to really change the world and society. Education, and specifically higher education, plays the crucial role of preparing students to be not only responsible citizens but also actors and promoters of processes and actions for a sustainable development. This is important in general and even more significant in architecture and engineering fields, as those students will be the designers of the built environment of tomorrow.This paper...

Higher spin currents in orthogonal Wolf space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, Changhyun; Paeng, Jinsub

2015-01-01

For the N=4 superconformal coset theory by ((SO(N+4))/(SO(N)×SU(2)))×U(1) (that contains an orthogonal Wolf space) with N = 4, the N=2 WZW affine current algebra is obtained. The 16 generators (or 11 generators) of the large N=4 linear (or nonlinear) superconformal algebra are described by these WZW affine currents explicitly. Along the line of large N=4 holography, the extra 16 currents with spins (2,(5/2),(5/2),3), ((5/2),3,3,(7/2)), ((5/2),3,3,(7/2)), and (3,(7/2),(7/2),4) are obtained in terms of the WZW affine currents. The lowest spin of this N=4 multiplet is two rather than one, which is for a unitary Wolf space. The operator product expansions between the above 11 currents and these extra 16 higher spin currents are found explicitly. (paper)

A Possible Minimum Toy Model with Negative Differential Capacitance for Self-sustained Current Oscillation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiong Gang; Sun Zhouzhou; Wang Xiangrong

2007-01-01

We generalize a simple model for superlattices to include the effect of differential capacitance. It is shown that the model always has a stable steady-state solution (SSS) if all differential capacitances are positive. On the other hand, when negative differential capacitance is included, the model can have no stable SSS and be in a self-sustained current oscillation behavior. Therefore, we find a possible minimum toy model with both negative differential resistance and negative differential capacitance which can include the phenomena of both self-sustained current oscillation and I-V oscillation of stable SSSs.

Current Trends in Higher Education Learning and Teaching

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Singh, R. J.

2012-01-01

Current trends in higher education learning and teaching focuses on the use of technology, integrated learning through "blended learning" and writing for academic purposes. This introductory article initiates the debate around the context of South African higher education teaching and learning. It does so by contextualizing the South…

Black Truffle Harvesting in Spanish Forests: Trends, Current Policies and Practices, and Implications on its Sustainability

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Garcia-Barreda, Sergi; Forcadell, Ricardo; Sánchez, Sergio; Martín-Santafé, María; Marco, Pedro; Camarero, J. Julio; Reyna, Santiago

2018-04-01

The European black truffle is a mycorrhizal fungus native to Spanish Mediterranean forests. In most Spanish regions it was originally commercially harvested in the second half of the 20th century. Experts agree that wild truffle yields suffered a sharp decline during the 1970s and 1980s. However, official statistics for Spanish harvest are scarce and seemingly conflicting, and little attention has been paid to the regime for the exploitation of truffle-producing forests and its implications on the sustainability of this resource. Trends in harvest from 1969 to 2013 and current harvesting practices were analyzed as a case study, taking into account that Spain is a major truffle producer worldwide, but at the same time truffles have only recently been exploited. The available statistical sources, which include an increasing proportion of cultivated truffles since the mid-1990s, were explored, with estimates from Truffle Harvesters Federation showing higher consistency. Statistical sources were then compared with proxies for wild harvest (rents from truffle leases in public forests) to corroborate time trends in wild harvesting. Results suggest that black truffle production is recovering in recent years thanks to plantations, whereas wild harvest is still declining. The implications of Spanish legal and institutional framework on sustainability of wild truffle use are reviewed. In the current scenario, the decline of wild harvest is likely to continue and eventually make commercial harvesting economically unattractive, thus aggravating sustainability issues. Strengthening of property rights, rationalization of harvesting pressure, forest planning and involvement of public stakeholders are proposed as corrective measures.

Profile formation and sustainment of autonomous tokamak plasma with current hole configuration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayashi, N.; Takizuka, T.; Ozeki, T.

2005-01-01

We have investigated the profile formation and sustainment of tokamak plasmas with the current hole (CH) configuration by using 1.5D time-dependent transport simulations. A model of the current limit inside the CH on the basis of the Axisymmetric Tri-Magnetic-Islands equilibrium is introduced into the transport simulation. We found that a transport model with the sharp reduction of anomalous transport in the reversed-shear (RS) region can reproduce the time evolution of profiles observed in JT-60U experiments. The transport becomes neoclassical-level in the RS region, which results in the formation of profiles with internal transport barrier (ITB) and CH. The CH plasma has an autonomous property because of the strong interaction between a pressure profile and a current profile through the large bootstrap current fraction. The ITB width determined by the neoclassical-level transport agrees well with that measured in JT-60U. The energy confinement inside the ITB agrees with the scaling based on the JT-60U data. The scaling means the autonomous limitation of energy confinement in the CH plasma. The plasma with the large CH is sustained with the full current drive by the bootstrap current. The plasma with the small CH and the small bootstrap current fraction shrinks due to the penetration of inductive current. This shrink is prevented and the CH size can be controlled by the appropriate external current drive (CD). The CH plasma is found to respond autonomically to the external CD. (author)

The Transformation of Traditional Universities into Entrepreneurial Universities to Ensure Sustainable Higher Education

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Bikse, Veronika; Lusena-Ezera, Inese; Rivza, Baiba; Volkova, Tatjana

2016-01-01

This paper aims to investigate the experience and to identify the drivers of transforming traditional universities into Entrepreneurial Universities for ensuring sustainable higher education in Latvia. Due to the wide scope, Entrepreneurial University characteristics, the present research study is limited and focuses on the university providing…

Perspective: Improving nutritional guidelines for sustainable health policies: Current status and perspectives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Magni, Paolo; Bier, Dennis M; Pecorelli, Sergio

2017-01-01

a constructive coalition among scientists, policy makers, and communication professionals for sustainable health and nutritional policies. Currently, a strong rationale and available data support a personalized dietary approach according to personal variables, including sex and age, circulating metabolic...

[Current status and sustainable development countermeasures of Anoectochilus roxburghii].

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Hong, Lin; Shao, Qing-Song; Zhou, Ai-Cun; Wang, Hong-Zhen; Zhang, Ai-Lian; Xu, Jian-Wei; Huang, Yu-Qiu

2016-02-01

The current status of the domestic manufacturing and sales markets of Anoectochilus roxburghii were investigated and analyzed in the study. Some problems in the A. roxburghii industry were revealed and a variety of sustainable development countermeasures were also proposed. The main problems of A. roxburghii industry are the lack of protection for wild resources, the lag in the speed of variety breeding, the insufficient research on the quality systems, the low level of industry and product innovation capability, as well as the relatively low market cognition and brand competence. Therefore, strengthening the protection for breeding resources, establishing a dynamic monitoring system, promoting the variety breeding, constructing a propagation system for improved varieties, enhancing the quality of medicinal herbs, accelerating the adjustment of product structure, upgrading the industry technology, strengthening brand competence and expanding the market, will be the effective methods to realize the sustainable development of A. roxburghii industry. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Sustainability Assessment of Higher Education Institutions in Saudi Arabia

OpenAIRE

Habib M. Alshuwaikhat; Yusuf A. Adenle; Bilal Saghir

2016-01-01

Universities are paramount change drivers in bringing about a culture of sustainability in society by setting themselves up as models and nurseries for sustainable development. Thus, assessment of sustainability integration within universities is key to their impact on sustainable development. This study conducted an assessment of different public sector universities of Saudi Arabia based on five components: (i) Teaching and Curriculum; (ii) Research and Scholarship; (iii) Campus Operations; ...

Seeking Learning Outcomes Appropriate for "Education for Sustainable Development" and for Higher Education

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Shephard, Kerry; Harraway, John; Lovelock, Brent; Mirosa, Miranda; Skeaff, Sheila; Slooten, Liz; Strack, Mick; Furnari, Mary; Jowett, Tim; Deaker, Lynley

2015-01-01

This article shares and extends research-based developments at the University of Otago, New Zealand, that seek to explore how students' worldviews change as they experience higher education with us. We emphasise that sustainability attributes may be described in terms of knowledge, skills and competencies but that these are underpinned by…

SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR MARKET LEADERSHIP AMONGST THE PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTES IN MALAYSIA

OpenAIRE

Loh Teck Hua Author_Email:

2011-01-01

One of Malaysia’s economic goals is to become an education hub for the region. To achieve this, the Malaysian government had liberalised government policies resulting in the proliferation of Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) including private Universities and University Colleges. As competition intensifies it becomes increasingly pertinent to ask “What sustainable competitive advantage should the Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) have to achieve market leadership in th...

Management Strategies for Sustainability Education, Planning, Design, Energy Conservation in California Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Petratos, Panagiotis; Damaskou, Evangelia

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the effects of campus sustainability planning to annual campus energy inflows and outflows in California higher education. The paper also offers a preliminary statistical analysis for the evaluation of impact factors on energy outflows and a link between energy outflows and building…

Design for Sustainability : Current Trends in Sustainable Product Design and Development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Clark, G.; Kosoris, J.; Nguyen Hong, L.; Crul, M.

2009-01-01

The Design for Sustainability (D4S) concept outlines methodologies for making sustainable improvements (social, economic and environmental) to products by applying elements of life cycle thinking. D4S builds on the work of ecodesign to include economic and social concerns, and its methodology

Special Forces Medical Sergeants' perceptions and beliefs regarding their current medical sustainment program: implications for the field.

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Wilson, Ramey L; DeZee, Kent J

2014-01-01

Special Forces Medical Sergeants (SFMS) are trained to provide trauma and medical care in support of military operations and diplomatic missions throughout the world with indirect physician oversight. This study assessed their perceptions of the current program designed to sustain their medical skills. An Internet-based survey was developed using the constructs of the Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behavior and validated through survey best practices. Of the 334 respondents, 92.8% had deployed at least once as an SFMS. Respondents reported spending 4 hours per week sustaining their medical skills and were highly confident that they could perform their duties on a no-notice deployment. On a 5-point, Likert-type response scale, SFMS felt that only slight change is needed to the Special Operations Medical Skills Sustainment Course (mean: 2.17; standard deviation [SD]: 1.05), while moderate change is needed to the Medical Proficiency Training (mean: 2.82; SD: 1.21) and nontrauma modules (mean: 3.02; SD: 1.22). Respondents desire a medical sustainment program that is provided by subject matter experts, involves actual patient care, incorporates new technology, uses hands-on simulation, and is always available. SFMS are challenged to sustain their medical skills in the current operational environment, and barriers to medical training should be minimized to facilitate sustainment training. Changes to the current medical sustainment program should incorporate operator-level perspectives to ensure acceptability and utility but must be balanced with organizational realities. Improving the medical sustainment program will prepare SFMS for the challenges of future missions. 2014.

Current Trends in Higher Education Technology: Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Damewood, Andrea M.

2016-01-01

This paper is focused on how technology in use changes over time, and the current trend of simulation technology as a supported classroom technology. Simulation-based training as a learning tool is discussed within the context of adult learning theories, as is the technology used and how today's higher education technology administrators support…

Sustainability Actions in Higher Education

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2017-04-13

This brochure details common sustainability actions taken by universities to reduce their energy consumption. Some of the most common actions include energy efficiency (existing building commissioning; lighting; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning upgrades; plug loads) and renewable energy (RE) (on-site or off-site solar deployment, RE procurement). We focus on the costs and benefits of energy efficiency measures and RE through the brochure while highlighting resources where readers can find more information.

A EUropean study on effectiveness and sustainability of current Cardiac Rehabilitation programmes in the Elderly

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prescott, Eva; Meindersma, Esther P; van der Velde, Astrid E

2016-01-01

of EU-CaRE is to map the efficiency of current CR of the elderly in Europe, and to investigate whether mCR is an effective alternative in terms of efficacy, adherence and sustainability. METHODS AND RESULTS: The EU-CaRE study includes patients aged 65 years or older with ischaemic heart disease or who...... on effectiveness and sustainability of current cardiac rehabilitation programmes in the elderly (EU-CaRE) project consists of an observational study and an open prospective, investigator-initiated multicentre randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving mobile telemonitoring guided CR (mCR). OBJECTIVE: The aim...... and sustainability. CONCLUSION: The study will provide important information to improve CR in the elderly. The EU-CaRE RCT is the first European multicentre study of mCR as an alternative for elderly patients not attending usual CR....

Current interactions from the one-form sector of nonlinear higher-spin equations

Science.gov (United States)

Gelfond, O. A.; Vasiliev, M. A.

2018-06-01

The form of higher-spin current interactions in the sector of one-forms is derived from the nonlinear higher-spin equations in AdS4. Quadratic corrections to higher-spin equations are shown to be independent of the phase of the parameter η = exp ⁡ iφ in the full nonlinear higher-spin equations. The current deformation resulting from the nonlinear higher-spin equations is represented in the canonical form with the minimal number of space-time derivatives. The non-zero spin-dependent coupling constants of the resulting currents are determined in terms of the higher-spin coupling constant η η bar . Our results confirm the conjecture that (anti-)self-dual nonlinear higher-spin equations result from the full system at (η = 0) η bar = 0.

Self-sustained spin-polarized current oscillations in multiquantum well structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Escobedo, Ramon [Departamento de Matematica Aplicada y Ciencias de la Computacion, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander (Spain); Carretero, Manuel; Bonilla, Luis L [G. Millan Institute, Fluid Dynamics, Nanoscience and Industrial Mathematics, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911 Leganes (Spain); Platero, Gloria [Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales, CSIC, 28049 Cantoblanco (Spain)], E-mail: escobedo@unican.es, E-mail: manuel.carretero@uc3m.es, E-mail: bonilla@ing.uc3m.es, E-mail: gplatero@icmm.csic.es

2009-01-15

Nonlinear transport through diluted magnetic semiconductor nanostructures is investigated. We have considered a II-VI multiquantum well nanostructure whose wells are selectively doped with Mn. The response to a dc voltage bias may be either a stationary or an oscillatory current. We have studied the transition from stationary to time-dependent current as a function of the doping density and the number of quantum wells. Analysis and numerical solution of a nonlinear spin transport model shows that the current in a structure without magnetic impurities is stationary, whereas current oscillations may appear if at least one well contains magnetic impurities. For long structures having two wells with magnetic impurities, a detailed analysis of nucleation of charge dipole domains shows that self-sustained current oscillations are caused by repeated triggering of dipole domains at the magnetic wells and motion towards the collector. Depending on the location of the magnetic wells and the voltage, dipole domains may be triggered at both wells or at only one. In the latter case, the well closer to the collector may inhibit domain motion between the first and the second well inside the structure. Our study could allow design of oscillatory spin-polarized current injectors.

Sustainability Champions? Academic Identities and Sustainability Curricula in Higher Education

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Wood, Bronwyn E.; Cornforth, Sue; Beals, Fiona; Taylor, Mike; Tallon, Rachel

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of academic staff who are committed to embedding sustainability within tertiary curricula and pedagogy. Design/Methodology/Approach: The focus of this paper is on a New Zealand university. A survey of staff was undertaken and in-depth interviews conducted with 11 sustainability…

The Challenge to Foster Foreign Students’ Experiences for Sustainable Higher Educational Institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomás M. Bañegil-Palacios

2018-02-01

Full Text Available While most companies are developing strategies that focus on responsibility and sustainability, recent discussions in higher educational institutions query the contribution of university social responsibility. Based on the theory of stakeholders and the new strategic paradigm of universities becoming sustainable corporations, the purpose of this paper is to determine Erasmus students’ opinions on their experiences abroad, as they relate to the importance they attribute to their emotions, and their relationship with and loyalty to their host university’s country as a tourism destination. The method inquired into Erasmus students’ impressions when studying in Spain through an ad hoc questionnaire based on academic literature and the Delphi technique. Survey data was analyzed through an exploratory factor analysis and partial least squares structural equation modeling. The study is a first attempt at analyzing experiential marketing in Erasmus students, who we considered tourists. The results support experiential marketing as a key approach for achieving sustainability in universities. The paper draws attention to the need for institutions to be more aware of the needs of foreign students as important stakeholders when designing mobility programs, as well as suggestions on how this awareness can be cultivated, in order to contribute to the consolidation of the selected country as a tourism destination.

Thematic development of declarations on Sustainability in Higher Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grindsted, Thomas Skou; Holm, Tove

2012-01-01

think should be given top priority in order to develop a sustainable society. Hence, the article addresses the following issues: (1) a thematic analysis of the relation between declarations developed by the university sector and those developed by governmental and intergovernmental institutions; (2...... of the international SHE literature reveals no study that deals specifically with the interaction between declarations developed by the university sector and declarations developed by governmental and intergovernmental institutions. An analysis of this type can give us important insights in what themes these parties......) an analysis of themes the two types of declarations might have in common; and if so (3) an analysis of how they have developed during the past decade. The article finds four new themes that previous research has not identified, and shows how the valuation of nature is under reconfiguration in higher education...

Sustainable Biomaterials: Current Trends, Challenges and Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar Gupta, Girish; De, Sudipta; Franco, Ana; Balu, Alina Mariana; Luque, Rafael

2015-12-30

Biomaterials and sustainable resources are two complementary terms supporting the development of new sustainable emerging processes. In this context, many interdisciplinary approaches including biomass waste valorization and proper usage of green technologies, etc., were brought forward to tackle future challenges pertaining to declining fossil resources, energy conservation, and related environmental issues. The implementation of these approaches impels its potential effect on the economy of particular countries and also reduces unnecessary overburden on the environment. This contribution aims to provide an overview of some of the most recent trends, challenges, and applications in the field of biomaterials derived from sustainable resources.

Sustainable Biomaterials: Current Trends, Challenges and Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Girish Kumar Gupta

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Biomaterials and sustainable resources are two complementary terms supporting the development of new sustainable emerging processes. In this context, many interdisciplinary approaches including biomass waste valorization and proper usage of green technologies, etc., were brought forward to tackle future challenges pertaining to declining fossil resources, energy conservation, and related environmental issues. The implementation of these approaches impels its potential effect on the economy of particular countries and also reduces unnecessary overburden on the environment. This contribution aims to provide an overview of some of the most recent trends, challenges, and applications in the field of biomaterials derived from sustainable resources.

Gaps in Sustainability Education: The Impact of Higher Education Coursework on Perceptions of Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, P. Brian; McAdams, Erin

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to examine how both the amount and type of coursework impact students' conceptualizations of sustainability. Previous research demonstrates that academic coursework influences students' environmental attitudes, yet few studies have examined the impact of coursework on how students conceptualize "sustainability".…

The I3E Model for Embedding Education for Sustainability within Higher Education Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Cebrián, Gisela

2018-01-01

This paper presents an evidence-based model (the I3E model) for embedding education for sustainability (EfS) within a higher education institution. This model emerged from a doctoral research that examined organisational learning and change processes at the University of Southampton to build EfS into the university curriculum. The researcher aimed…

Higher spin currents in Wolf space. Part I

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahn, Changhyun [Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University,Taegu 702-701 (Korea, Republic of)

2014-03-20

For the N=4 superconformal coset theory described by ((SU(N+2))/(SU(N))) (that contains a Wolf space) with N=3, the N=2 WZW affine current algebra with constraints is obtained. The 16 generators of the large N=4 linear superconformal algebra are described by those WZW affine currents explicitly. By factoring out four spin-(1/2) currents and the spin-1 current from these 16 generators, the remaining 11 generators (spin-2 current, four spin-(3/2) currents, and six spin-1 currents) corresponding to the large N=4 nonlinear superconformal algebra are obtained. Based on the recent work by Gaberdiel and Gopakumar on the large N=4 holography, the extra 16 currents, with spin contents (1,(3/2),(3/2),2), ((3/2),2,2,(5/2)), ((3/2),2,2,(5/2)), and (2,(5/2),(5/2),3) described in terms of N=2 multiplets, are obtained and realized by the WZW affine currents. As a first step towards N=4W algebra (which is NOT known so far), the operator product expansions (OPEs) between the above 11 currents and these extra 16 higher spin currents are found explicitly. It turns out that the composite fields with definite U(1) charges, made of above (11+16) currents (which commute with the Wolf space subgroup SU(N=3)×SU(2)×U(1) currents), occur in the right hand sides of these OPEs.

Higher spin currents in the enhanced N=3 Kazama-Suzuki model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahn, Changhyun; Kim, Hyunsu [Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University,Taegu 41566 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-12-01

The N=3 Kazama-Suzuki model at the ‘critical’ level has been found by Creutzig, Hikida and Ronne. We construct the lowest higher spin currents of spins ((3/2),2,2,2,(5/2),(5/2),(5/2),3) in terms of various fermions. In order to obtain the operator product expansions (OPEs) between these higher spin currents, we describe three N=2 OPEs between the two N=2 higher spin currents denoted by ((3/2),2,2,(5/2)) and (2,(5/2),(5/2),3) (corresponding 36 OPEs in the component approach). Using the various Jacobi identities, the coefficient functions appearing on the right hand side of these N=2 OPEs are determined in terms of central charge completely. Then we describe them as one single N=3 OPE in the N=3 superspace. The right hand side of this N=3 OPE contains the SO(3)-singlet N=3 higher spin multiplet of spins (2,(5/2),(5/2),(5/2),3,3,3,(7/2)), the SO(3)-singlet N=3 higher spin multiplet of spins ((5/2),3,3,3,(7/2),(7/2),(7/2),4), and the SO(3)-triplet N=3 higher spin multiplets where each multiplet has the spins (3,(7/2),(7/2),(7/2),4,4,4,(9/2)), in addition to N=3 superconformal family of the identity operator. Finally, by factoring out the spin-(1/2) current of N=3 linear superconformal algebra generated by eight currents of spins ((1/2),1,1,1,(3/2),(3/2),(3/2),2), we obtain the extension of so-called SO(3) nonlinear Knizhnik Bershadsky algebra.

Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabio Caporali

Full Text Available In the framework of the 16th National Meeting of the Italian Ecological Society (“Global Change, Ecological Diversity and Sustainability”, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, 19-22 September 2006, a symposium was devoted to “Agroecology and Sustainable Development”. A major goal of this symposium was to contribute to keeping the dialogue among the experts of the various disciplines alive. Sustainability of agriculture is a challenge for society world wide. Universities and society as a whole have a responsibility in re-examining current perception of nature, of the world and of human society in the light of natural resources depletion, increasing pollution and social inequalities. The urgency to address sustainability issues is increasingly being reflected in the manner in which institutions of higher education around the world are giving priority to the teaching, research and practice of sustainability. The University of Tuscia is involved in international initiatives concerning teaching and research in Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture.

A mechanism for the dynamo terms to sustain closed-flux current, including helicity balance, by driving current which crosses the magnetic field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jarboe, T. R.; Nelson, B. A.; Sutherland, D. A. [University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States)

2015-07-15

An analysis of imposed dynamo current drive (IDCD) [T.R. Jarboe et al., Nucl. Fusion 52 083017 (2012)] reveals: (a) current drive on closed flux surfaces seems possible without relaxation, reconnection, or other flux-surface-breaking large events; (b) the scale size of the key physics may be smaller than is often computationally resolved; (c) helicity can be sustained across closed flux; and (d) IDCD current drive is parallel to the current which crosses the magnetic field to produce the current driving force. In addition to agreeing with spheromak data, IDCD agrees with selected tokamak data.

Higher Education for Sustainability: Can Education Affect Moral Perceptions?

Science.gov (United States)

Felgendreher, Simon; Löfgren, Åsa

2018-01-01

A considerable literature looks at universities' approaches to integrating sustainable development into teaching and learning, but less is known about how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) affects student attitudes, values and norms. To our knowledge, only a few studies have quantified such effects of changes in curricula. This study…

Higher-spin currents in the Gross-Neveu model at 1/n"2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manashov, A.N.

2016-10-01

We calculate the anomalous dimensions of higher-spin currents, both singlet and non-singlet, in the Gross - Neveu model at the 1/n"2 order. It was conjectured that in the critical regime this model is dual to a higher-spin gauge theory on AdS_4. The AdS/CFT correspondence predicts that the masses of higher-spin fields correspond to the scaling dimensions of the singlet currents in the Gross - Neveu model.

Integrating Sustainable Development in Higher Education through Experience-Based Learning: Insights from Experts in Team (EiT) for Developing a Combined Theoretical Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Otte, Pia Piroschka

2016-01-01

Universities are understood to play an essential role in the promotion of sustainable development. However, the recognition of sustainable development in higher education poses multiple challenges to the traditional higher education system. This article introduces a course concept called "Experts in Teams" (EiT) as a new platform of…

Current and future sustainable biofuels; Dagens och framtidens haallbara biodrivmedel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boerjesson, Paal [Lunds Univ., Lund (Sweden); Lundgren, Joakim [Luleaa Univ. of Technology Bio4Energy, Luleaa (Sweden); Ahlgren, Serina [Sveriges Lantbruksuniv., Uppsala (Sweden)

2013-07-01

This report has been prepared as a background paper for the government study of Fossil-Free Vehicle traffic (FFF investigation). The purpose of this study is to describe and summarize the current knowledge on the production of biofuels and linkages to sustainability issues such as energy and land efficiency, GHG performance and costs. The report includes both existing and future fuel systems under development and based on different raw materials and production processes. The study has primarily a Swedish perspective, but with international outlooks. The report's analysis of energy efficiency, GHG performance and production costs are based on system analysis and a life-cycle perspective. The focus is on the production chain up to produced fuel (well-to-tank). Results are based on current research and production chains and is based primarily on standardized LCA and for some systems also on industrial systems analysis.

Current and future sustainable biofuels; Dagens och framtidens haallbara biodrivmedel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boerjesson, Paal [Lunds Univ., Lund (Sweden); Lundgren, Joakim [Luleaa Univ. of Technology Bio4Energy, Luleaa (Sweden); Ahlgren, Serina [Sveriges Lantbruksuniv., Uppsala (Sweden)

2013-07-01

This report has been prepared as a background paper for the government study of Fossil-Free Vehicle traffic (FFF investigation). The purpose of this study is to describe and summarize the current knowledge on the production of biofuels and linkages to sustainability issues such as energy and land efficiency, GHG performance and costs. The report includes both existing and future fuel systems under development and based on different raw materials and production processes. The study has primarily a Swedish perspective, but with international outlooks. The report's analysis of energy efficiency, GHG performance and production costs are based on system analysis and a life-cycle perspective. The focus is on the production chain up to produced fuel (well-to-tank). Results are based on current research and production chains and is based primarily on standardized LCA and for some systems also on industrial systems analysis.

Design for Sustainability: Current Trends in Sustainable Product Design and Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcel Crul

2009-08-01

Full Text Available The Design for Sustainability (D4S concept outlines methodologies for making sustainable improvements (social, economic and environmental to products by applying elements of life cycle thinking. D4S builds on the work of ecodesign to include economic and social concerns, and its methodology includes both incremental and radical innovation. The United Nations Environment Programme and the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, in concert with key partners, work to support, illustrate, and diffuse targeted D4S demonstration efforts, including the European Commission-funded Cleaner Production for Better Products project in Vietnam, that are needed to change unsustainable consumption and production patterns.

Validating the Need to Include the Economic Returns of Graduates as a Metric of a Higher Education Institutions Level of Sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maragakis, A.; van den Dobbelsteen, A.A.J.F.; Maragakis, Alexandros

2016-01-01

Higher education institutions play an important role in sustainability, in their own management and operation, in research and education, and in the undergraduate and graduate degrees they deliver. Often ignored, economic sustainability and future perspectives of students are important indicators

Sustainable supply chain management: current debate and future directions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno Silvestre

Full Text Available Abstract This paper is a research brief on sustainable supply chain management and covers some of the key elements of literature’s past debate and trends for future directions. It highlights the growth of this research area and reinforces the importance of a full consideration of all three key dimensions of sustainability when managing sustainable supply chains, i.e., the financial, environmental and social dimensions. Therefore, supply chain decision makers need to unequivocally assess the impact of their decisions on the financial, environmental and social performances of their supply chains. This paper also argues that risks and opportunities are the key drivers for supply chain decision makers to adopt sustainability within their operations, and that barriers to sustainability adoption exist. This research highlights that, depending on the focus adopted, supply chains can evolve and shift from more traditional to more sustainable approaches over time. The paper concludes with some promising avenues for future investigation.

Sustainable building assessment tool: integrating sustainability into current design and building processes

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Gibberd, Jeremy T

2008-09-01

Full Text Available the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. ( International Union for Conservation of Nature 1991) These definitions focus on what Wackernagel and Yount call the “socio-economic” and “ecological imperatives” of sustainability (Wackernagel et al, 2000.... Figure 1 Human development and ecological footprints 2003 (from the Living Planet Report) The figure is interesting in that it suggest that only one country (in Latin America and the Caribbean) meets the minimum criteria for sustainability...

Stakeholder Engagement in Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education: An Analysis of Key Internal Stakeholders' Expectations

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrero-Ferrero, Idoya; Fernández-Izquierdo, María Ángeles; Muñoz-Torres, María Jesús; Bellés-Colomer, Lucía

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of stakeholder engagement in the context of sustainability reporting (SR) for higher education institutions (HEIs), together with the materiality principle and stakeholder expectations. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses an exploratory approach based on content…

Connecting Competences and Pedagogical Approaches for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: A Literature Review and Framework Proposal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo Lozano

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Research into and practice of Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD have been increasing during the last two decades. These have focused on providing sustainability education to future generations of professionals. In this context, there has been considerable progress in the incorporation of SD in universities’ curricula. Most of these efforts have focussed on the design and delivery of sustainability-oriented competences. Some peer-reviewed articles have proposed different pedagogical approaches to better deliver SD in these courses; however, there has been limited research on the connection between how courses are delivered (pedagogical approaches and how they may affect sustainability competences. This paper analyses competences and pedagogical approaches, using hermeneutics to connect these in a framework based on twelve competences and twelve pedagogical approaches found in the literature. The framework connects the course aims to delivery in HESD by highlighting the connections between pedagogical approaches and competences in a matrix structure. The framework is aimed at helping educators in creating and updating their courses to provide a more complete, holistic, and systemic sustainability education to future leaders, decision makers, educators, and change agents. To better develop mind-sets and actions of future generations, we must provide students with a complete set of sustainability competences.

Aligning Strategy with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs: Process Scoping Diagram for Entrepreneurial Higher Education Institutions (HEIs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Fleacă

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Seeing that the prosperity of people and society is possible with the aid of sustained and inclusive economic growth of all countries and regions, the sustainable development of our world has gained the particular attention of a wide range of decisional factors; civil society, the business sector, and the scientific community. Education has a decisive impact on changes in the way that societies are coping with national, regional, and global challenges and opportunities brought by sustainable development. The paper addressed the lack of capacity of higher education institutions (HEIs to integrate the principles and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning, which hampers the capability to act as an entrepreneurial university. Embarking on the path of sustainable development goals (SDGs requires HEI to design, launch, implement, and customize specific processes architecture to govern the advance of the sustainability approach. The authors applied the process scoping diagram to capture and conceptualize the educational model needed to guide the HEI through the process of change in its daily operations. The SIPOC method (Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer was applied and with the aid of Visio software tool, the processes relationships were articulated and embedded in the educational model of HEI. Finally, the authors shared their views on the scalability of the model, which may be customized and harmonized in accordance with different HEI’s circumstances and priorities.

Developing a Sustainable Practical Model of Graduate Employability for Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed Umar Rufai

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to evolve a sustainable practical model of employability skills that is sure to capture relevant learning aspects of a particular occupational discipline to be used as framework for Undergraduate students to develop their employability potentials. The study was conducted in three Universities and Polytechnics each with three multi-national companies. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Using purposeful sampling 18 academic staff and 3 professionals representing company employers were selected as the study participants. The study evolved a model that is work-based, explicit in its outcome, fully articulated and realistic in terms of employability skill experiences. The proposed model can be used to establish a common higher education programme or curricula that is work-based and skill experience oriented, that can encourage students in higher education to think about work place learning more explicitly and reflectively, that will in turn help them to develop a broad range of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values, each of which ultimately contribute in some manner to graduate employability.  The paper is considered a contribution to the evolution and growth of knowledge on the linkage between higher education and workplace, through which the ‘skill gap’ occurring between the demand of employment and the level of educational preparation of graduates can be bridged. Keywords: Employability, Higher Education, Graduates, Model/Framework,   academic staff, Employers/Professionals

Leveraging Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education Institutions--A Multidimensional Research Agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Schoormann, Thorsten; Bührig, Jan; Behrens, Dennis; Knackstedt, Ralf

2017-01-01

Sustainability has become increasingly important to research and practice. In order to determine impacts, identify improvement potential and to disclose efforts towards sustainability, an organization needs appropriate reporting. Thus, sustainability reporting has become a topic of broader interest, for example, to assess own situations, enable…

Governance and the Gulf of Mexico Coast: How Are Current Policies Contributing to Sustainability?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Jordan

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The quality of life and economies of coastal communities depend, to a great degree, on the ecological integrity of coastal ecosystems. Paradoxically, as more people are drawn to the coasts, these ecosystems and the services they provide are increasingly stressed by development and human use. Employing the coastal Gulf of Mexico as an example, we explore through three case studies how government policies contribute to preventing, mitigating, or exacerbating the degradation of coastal ecosystems. We consider the effectiveness of the current systems, what alternate or additional policy solutions might be needed to ensure the sustainability of the region and its quality of life, and what this example can tell us about the sustainability of coastal systems globally. In our examples, among other aspects, policies that are proactive and networked governance structures are observed to favor sustainable outcomes, in contrast to reactive policies and hierarchical models of governance.

Food and Higher Education for Sustainable Development

Science.gov (United States)

Clugston, Richard; Calder, Wynn

2007-01-01

This article argues that food issues are an appropriate, if not necessary, topic for education for sustainable development (ESD) both in terms of teaching and institutional practice. The first section summarises critical topics for a school or university course on food. The second section cites two examples of university efforts--at the University…

Sustained diffusive alternating current gliding arc discharge in atmospheric pressure air

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhu, Jiajian; Gao, Jinlong; Li, Zhongshan

2014-01-01

Rapid transition from glow discharge to thermal arc has been a common problem in generating stable high-power non-thermal plasmas especially at ambient conditions. A sustained diffusive gliding arc discharge was generated in a large volume in atmospheric pressure air, driven by an alternating...... current (AC) power source. The plasma column extended beyond the water-cooled stainless steel electrodes and was stabilized by matching the flow speed of the turbulent air jet with the rated output power. Comprehensive investigations were performed using high-speed movies measured over the plasma column...

Assessment and Evaluation of Higher Education in Business Management: An Analysis of the Brazilian Case in the Light of Social Learning Theory for Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Brunstein, Janette; Jaime, Pedro; Curi, Denise Pereira; d'Angelo, Marcia Juliana; Mainardes, Emerson Wagner

2015-01-01

This article presents an analysis of Brazilian National System of Higher Education Assessment (SINAES) in the light of social learning for sustainability theory. The aim is to contribute to the advancement of debates surrounding education for sustainability and the improvement of public policy evaluation in higher education. The analysis is…

SUSTAINABLE TRAILER FLOORING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Lu

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Different trailer flooring materials, including wood-based, aluminum, steel, and synthetic plastic floors, were evaluated in accordance with their durability and sustainability to our natural environment. Wood-based trailer flooring is an eco-friendly product. It is the most sustainable trailer flooring material compared with fossil fuel-intensive steel, aluminum, and plastics. It is renewable and recyclable. Oak, hard maple, and apitong are strong and durable hardwood species that are currently extensively used for trailer flooring. For manufacture, wood-based flooring is higher in energy efficiency and lower in carbon emission than steel, aluminum and plastics. Moreover, wood per se is a natural product that sequesters carbon. Accordingly, using more wood-based trailer flooring is effective to reduce global warming.

Validating the Need to Include the Economic Returns of Graduates as a Metric of a Higher Education Institutions Level of Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Maragakis, Antonios; van den Dobbelsteen, Andy; Maragakis, Alexandros

2016-01-01

Higher education institutions play an important role in sustainability, in their own management and operation, in research and education, and in the undergraduate and graduate degrees they deliver. Often ignored, economic sustainability and future perspectives of students are important indicators too. The research presented in this paper validates…

Higher-spin currents in the Gross-Neveu model at 1/n{sup 2}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manashov, A.N. [Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg,Hamburg, D-22761 (Germany); Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Regensburg,Regensburg, D-93040 (Germany); Skvortsov, E.D. [Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Theresienstr. 37, Munich, D-80333 (Germany); Lebedev Institute of Physics,Leninsky ave. 53, Moscow, 119991 (Russian Federation)

2017-01-30

We calculate the anomalous dimensions of higher-spin currents, both singlet and non-singlet, in the Gross-Neveu model at the 1/n{sup 2} order. It was conjectured that in the critical regime this model is dual to a higher-spin gauge theory on AdS{sub 4}. The AdS/CFT correspondence predicts that the masses of higher-spin fields correspond to the scaling dimensions of the singlet currents in the Gross-Neveu model.

Sustainable Fashion Supply Chain: Lessons from H&M

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Shen

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is significantly important for fashion business due to consumers’ increasing awareness of environment. When a fashion company aims to promote sustainability, the main linkage is to develop a sustainable supply chain. This paper contributes to current knowledge of sustainable supply chain in the textile and clothing industry. We first depict the structure of sustainable fashion supply chain including eco-material preparation, sustainable manufacturing, green distribution, green retailing, and ethical consumers based on the extant literature. We study the case of the Swedish fast fashion company, H&M, which has constructed its sustainable supply chain in developing eco-materials, providing safety training, monitoring sustainable manufacturing, reducing carbon emission in distribution, and promoting eco-fashion. Moreover, based on the secondary data and analysis, we learn the lessons of H&M’s sustainable fashion supply chain from the country perspective: (1 the H&M’s sourcing managers may be more likely to select suppliers in the countries with lower degrees of human wellbeing; (2 the H&M’s supply chain manager may set a higher level of inventory in a country with a higher human wellbeing; and (3 the H&M CEO may consider the degrees of human wellbeing and economic wellbeing, instead of environmental wellbeing when launching the online shopping channel in a specific country.

Scan for sustainability in higher education 2010 [in the Netherlands]; Scan duurzaamheid ICT in hoger onderwijs 2010

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Westrienen, G. [SURFfoundation, Utrecht (Netherlands)

2010-12-15

A scan among nine higher education institutions in 2010 shows that much can be gained by using sustainable ICT. The higher education can save at least 44 percent on energy use of ICT equipment at work stations and in data centers. [Dutch] Een scan in 2010 bij negen hogeronderwijsinstellingen toont dat met duurzame ICT nog veel winst is te behalen. Het hoger onderwijs kan zeker 44 procent besparen op het energieverbruik van ICT-apparatuur op werkplekken en in datacenters.

Textiles and clothing sustainability sustainable technologies

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This is the first book to deal with the innovative technologies in the field of textiles and clothing sustainability. It details a number of sustainable and innovative technologies and highlights their implications in the clothing sector. There are currently various measures to achieve sustainability in the textiles and the clothing industry, including innovations in the manufacturing stage, which is the crux of this book.

Higher quantum conserved current in a new completely integrable model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nissimov, E.R.

1980-06-01

The first higher local quantum conserved current is the recently proposed new completely integrable (2esup(βphi)+esup(-2βphi)) 2 model is explicitly constructed thus proving absence of particle production and factorization of multiparticle scattering. (author)

A sustainable start. Towards sustainable ICT in higher education and research; Een duurzame start. Op weg naar duurzame ICT in het hoger onderwijs en onderzoek

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Helmholt, K.A.; Bomhof, F.W. [TNO Informatie- en Communicatie Technologie, Delft (Netherlands)

2011-03-15

This document has listed a number of general considerations with regard to sustainability and addresses the more specific situation of the educational institutions: relatively large use of computer equipment and the presence of large groups of people that cannot be considered 'employees'. This document sets out to sketch a wide framework and subsequently focuses on the working environment of an I(C)T manager of a large educational institute who has been given the assignment of making ICT more sustainable. Attention is paid to questions such as: when is ICT sustainable?; how can you measure/account for the sustainability of ICT?; and what are current methods/measures for realizing sustainability of/with ICT?. [Dutch] In dit document wordt een aantal algemene overwegingen m.b.t. duurzaamheid op een rij gezet en wordt ingegaan op de specifiekere situatie waarin onderwijsinstellingen zich bevinden: het gebruik van relatief veel computerapparatuur, en de aanwezigheid van grote groepen mensen die niet als 'werknemer' beschouwd kunnen worden. Dit document begint met het schetsen van een groot kader en focust vervolgens meer in op de werkomgeving van een I(C)T-manager van een grote onderwijsinstelling die de opdracht krijgt 'de ICT duurzaam te maken'. Daarbij is aandacht besteed aan antwoorden op de volgende vragen: wanneer is ICT duurzaam?; hoe kun je de duurzaamheid van ICT meten/verantwoorden?; en wat zijn huidige methoden/maatregelen om duurzaamheid van en met ICT bereiken?.

The next 16 higher spin currents and three-point functions in the large N = 4 holography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahn, Changhyun; Kim, Dong-gyu; Kim, Man Hea [Kyungpook National University, Department of Physics, Taegu (Korea, Republic of)

2017-08-15

By using the known operator product expansions (OPEs) between the lowest 16 higher spin currents of spins (1, (3)/(2), (3)/(2), (3)/(2), (3)/(2), 2,2,2,2,2,2, (5)/(2), (5)/(2), (5)/(2), (5)/(2), 3) in an extension of the large N = 4 linear superconformal algebra, one determines the OPEs between the lowest 16 higher spin currents in an extension of the large N = 4 nonlinear superconformal algebra for generic N and k. The Wolf space coset contains the group G = SU(N + 2) and the affine Kac-Moody spin 1 current has the level k. The next 16 higher spin currents of spins (2, (5)/(2), (5)/(2), (5)/(2), (5)/(2), 3,3,3,3,3,3, (7)/(2), (7)/(2), (7)/(2), (7)/(2), 4) arise in the above OPEs. The most general lowest higher spin 2 current in this multiplet can be determined in terms of affine Kac-Moody spin (1)/(2), 1 currents. By careful analysis of the zero mode (higher spin) eigenvalue equations, the three-point functions of bosonic higher spin 2, 3, 4 currents with two scalars are obtained for finite N and k. Furthermore, we also analyze the three-point functions of bosonic higher spin 2, 3, 4 currents in the extension of the large N = 4 linear superconformal algebra. It turns out that the three-point functions of higher spin 2, 3 currents in the two cases are equal to each other at finite N and k. Under the large (N, k) 't Hooft limit, the two descriptions for the three-point functions of higher spin 4 current coincide with each other. The higher spin extension of SO(4) Knizhnik Bershadsky algebra is described. (orig.)

Current Trends in Sustainability of Bitcoins and Related Blockchain Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pasquale Giungato

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Bitcoin is a digital currency based on a peer-to-peer payment system managed by an open source software and characterized by lower transaction costs, greater security and scalability than fiat money and no need of a central bank. Despite criticisms about illegal uses and social consequences, it is attracting the interest of the scientific community. The purpose of this work is to define and evaluate the current trends of the literature concerned with the sustainability of bitcoin, considering the environmental impacts, social issues and economic aspects. From the analysis it emerges that the transition of the whole monetary system in the new cryptocurrency will result in an unacceptable amount of energy consumed to mine new bitcoins and to maintain the entire virtual monetary system, and probably bitcoin will remain a niche currency. Blockchain, which is the base for a distributed and democratically-sustained public ledger of the transactions, could foster new and challenging opportunities. Sharing the framework of medical data, energy generation and distribution in micro-grids at the citizen level, block-stack and new state-driven cryptocurrencies, may benefit from the wide spread of blockchain-based transactions. Under the perspective of its being a driver of social change, bitcoins and related blockchain technologies may overcome the issues highlighted by numerous detractors.

Sustainability in facilities management: an overview of current research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Susanne Balslev; Sarasoja, Anna-Liisa; Ramskov Galamba, Kirsten

2016-01-01

of environmental, social and economical impacts? How to improve the sustainability performance of buildings? What are the potentials for and barriers to integrating sustainability into FM on strategic, tactical and operational levels? Originality/value: The paper presents the most comprehensive literature study...

Higher Education in the Sustainable Development Goals Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, Taya Louise

2017-01-01

Agenda 2030 for sustainable development focuses attention on lifelong learning opportunities for all. The new targets expand on their predecessors, the Millennial Development Goals, by both widening and deepening the scope of system-wide quality education systems. Whilst the Millennial Development Goals focused attention on universal primary…

Professional Development of Sustainability Competences in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Lambrechts, Wim; Verhulst, Elli; Rymenams, Sara

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to provide insights into the relation between professional development (PD) and organisational change processes towards sustainability, with a specific focus on empowerment. Design/methodology/approach: The paper builds upon a constructivist approach, combining a literature review, a desk research on key publications and…

Farming Chicago: Prospects for Higher Education Support of Sustainable Urban Food Systems in the U.S. Heartland

Science.gov (United States)

Rosing, Howard; Block, Daniel R.

2017-01-01

The article highlights recent food policies in Chicago with the goal of exploring how higher education institutions can contribute to development of sustainable food resources for residents of North American cities. Thousands of Chicago residents face daily challenges accessing fresh food due to income constraints and/or lack of proximity to food…

Cultural Perspectives on Social Responsibility in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Yob, Iris M.

2016-01-01

The writers of the UNESCO document, "Rethinking education: Towards a global common good?" challenge educators to address their efforts to meet the current threats to sustainable life for all who share this planet. One way that higher education has been attempting to do this is through campus-community partnerships working to solve social…

Smart Green Campus : How IT can Support Sustainability in Higher Education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Henk Plessius; Joris Mens; Pascal Ravesteijn

2014-01-01

Author supplied: Within the Netherlands the interest for sustainability is slowly growing. However, most organizations are still lagging behind in implementing sustainability as part of their strategy and in developing performance indicators to track their progress; not only in profit

Environmental Sustainability: Study an Institution of Higher Education Public of the State of Santa Catarina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanie Kalynka Rocha

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The paper has the general objective of analyzing the environmental sustainability of an Institution of Higher Education (IHE Public of the State of Santa Catarina. To meet this objective has to reach the specific objectives: to check the number of IHEs in Brazil and Santa Catarina; to identify the number of public and private institutions and to propose a management model 5W2H to deficit sustainability criteria. The methodology and the objectives considered descriptive, with the technical procedures has the case study and the approach problem qualitative. The methodology is divided into three phases: the first phase it is the theoretical basis, it approaches social and environmental responsibility; environmental management and environmental management system. In the second phase it is the analysis of the results where first there was the amount of IHE and distribution in administrative categories. In the third phase, it has been the purpose of responding to a checklist of 154 questions developed by Pieri et al (2011 and Environmental Management Plan Summary (5W2H. In the end it is concluded that the institution submitted a global sustainability index of 32 %, being regarded as weak, proposing with the 5W2H tool, an action for each criterion, as the inclusion of recyclable products in acquisitions; recycling of waste; accessibility to the handicapped; and creating actions that approximates the IHE to the society. It is hoped that the proposed actions that the institution to put them into practice, increase the environmental sustainability index, benefiting society and the environment.

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING – AN ANALYSIS OF THE WORLDWIDE DIFFUSION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radu-Dan TURCU

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The increasing importance of sustainability issues expressed by different types of stakeholders has placed them among the leading topics inside the accounting literature. The paper aims to extend the current knowledge through the analysis of the relation between the number of sustainability reports issued by companies inside one country and its social, environmental and economic performances from a worldwide perspective, with a particular focus on the European Union. Our results indicate a positive correlation between the analyzed variables, denoting a higher involvement of companies from more developed countries for the improvement of sustainability reporting concept and practice.

State Higher Education Funding Models: An Assessment of Current and Emerging Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Layzell, Daniel T.

2007-01-01

This article provides an assessment of the current and emerging approaches used by state governments in allocating funding for higher education institutions and programs. It reviews a number of desired characteristics or outcomes for state higher education funding models, including equity, adequacy, stability, and flexibility. Although there is…

Innovative Management for Organizational Sustainability in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Barnard, Zenia; Van der Merwe, Derek

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the innovative management strategies at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) during volatile post-merger years, in its quest for a sustainable future. It illustrates how the institution went from a place of relative uncertainty and volatility to a place of progression and stability by…

Quality Disclosure in Sustainability Reporting: Evidence From Universities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto ROMOLINI

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Attention towards sustainability reporting is very high with reference to higher education. The paper aims to assess the maturity level of sus-tainability reporting and to measure its quality by evaluating the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI indicators currently disclosed. The research was carried out using the inductive method. We de-limited the study to universities and we evaluated the quality of sustainability reporting by analyzing the indicators disclosed in 2012 reports accord-ing to GRI guidelines. The research gives an overview of sustainability reporting in universities by evaluating the quality level of their disclosure. The results confrm previous research by high-lighting the necessity to improve sustainability reporting. Moreover, the results show there are differences between universities that are con-nected to the peculiarities of each country. They also enable us to draw up an initial classifcation of universities. The paper provides one of the frst in-depth studies of sustainability reporting quality for universities included in the GRI database.

Higher dietary diversity is related to better visual and auditory sustained attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiraseb, Farideh; Siassi, Fereydoun; Qorbani, Mostafa; Sotoudeh, Gity; Rostami, Reza; Narmaki, Elham; Yavari, Parvaneh; Aghasi, Mohadeseh; Shaibu, Osman Mohammed

2016-04-01

Attention is a complex cognitive function that is necessary for learning, for following social norms of behaviour and for effective performance of responsibilities and duties. It is especially important in sensitive occupations requiring sustained attention. Improvement of dietary diversity (DD) is recognised as an important factor in health promotion, but its association with sustained attention is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the association between auditory and visual sustained attention and DD. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 400 women aged 20-50 years who attended sports clubs at Tehran Municipality. Sustained attention was evaluated on the basis of the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test using Integrated Visual and Auditory software. A single 24-h dietary recall questionnaire was used for DD assessment. Dietary diversity scores (DDS) were determined using the FAO guidelines. The mean visual and auditory sustained attention scores were 40·2 (sd 35·2) and 42·5 (sd 38), respectively. The mean DDS was 4·7 (sd 1·5). After adjusting for age, education years, physical activity, energy intake and BMI, mean visual and auditory sustained attention showed a significant increase as the quartiles of DDS increased (P=0·001). In addition, the mean subscales of attention, including auditory consistency and vigilance, visual persistence, visual and auditory focus, speed, comprehension and full attention, increased significantly with increasing DDS (Pvisual and auditory sustained attention.

Sustainability in the Higher Education System: An Opportunity to Improve Quality and Image

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela M. Salvioni

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In view of the increasing importance attributed to social responsibility and stakeholder relationship management, more universities have expanded their research topics and their educational programs through the years. High attention is dedicated to the dominant principles and values of internal and external relations, to the innovation processes designed to ensure an approach to sustainable development. However, less attention is dedicated to the sustainability governance orientation and to the development of a strong institutional culture of sustainability, which is a key success factor to improve the quality and the image. This article observes the sustainability governance orientation, through the analysis of the information on the websites of three fair groups of universities in the international Top 500-ARWU (Academic Ranking of World Universities 2015 ranking. The aim is to verify if there is a link between the degree of sustainability culture in the management and the positioning of the universities in the international ranking. In addition, the analysis is compared with self-assessment data carried out by the same universities in terms of performance sustainability through the STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System online platform. As principal consideration, we have noted that the best universities in the ranking have a management approach based on a shared vision of sustainability development of their university leaders, who play an essential role affirming and disseminating a sustainability culture. All this opens broader future implications intended to highlight the importance of management sustainability as a quality improvement factor of universities.

Sustainability in higher education in the context of the UN DESD: a review of learning and institutionalization processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wals, A.E.J.

2014-01-01

This contribution is grounded empirically in a review of UN’s Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN DESD) which the author was commissioned to carry out by UNESCO. The review’s section on the learning processes taking place in the higher education arena forms the basis of this article.

The sustainable management and protection of forests: analysis of the current position globally.

Science.gov (United States)

Freer-Smith, Peter; Carnus, Jean-Michel

2008-06-01

The loss of forest area globally due to change of land use, the importance of forests in the conservation of biodiversity and in carbon and other biogeochemical cycles, together with the threat to forests from pollution and from the impacts of climate change, place forestry policy and practice at the center of global environmental and sustainability strategy. Forests provide important economic, environmental, social, and cultural benefits, so that in forestry, as in other areas of environmental policy and management, there are tensions between economic development and environmental protection. In this article we review the current information on global forest cover and condition, examine the international processes that relate to forest protection and to sustainable forest management, and look at the main forest certification schemes. We consider the link between the international processes and certification schemes and also their combined effectiveness. We conclude that in some regions of the world neither mechanism is achieving forest protection, while in others local or regional implementation is occurring and is having a significant impact. Choice of certification scheme and implementation of management standards are often influenced by a consideration of the associated costs, and there are some major issues over the monitoring of agreed actions and of the criteria and indicators of sustainability. There are currently a number of initiatives seeking to improve the operation of the international forestry framework (e.g., The Montreal Process, the Ministerial Convention of the Protection of Forests in Europe and European Union actions in Europe, the African Timber Organisation and International Tropical Timber Organisation initiative for African tropical forest, and the development of a worldwide voluntary agreement on forestry in the United Nations Forum on Forests). We suggest that there is a need to improve the connections between scientific understanding

Higher Education Curriculum for Sustainability: Course Contents Analyses of Purchasing and Supply Management Programme of Polytechnics in Ghana

Science.gov (United States)

Etse, Daniel; Ingley, Coral

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the degree of attention to and the nature of sustainability issues in the curriculum of the Higher National Diploma (HND) Purchasing and Supply Management programme of Ghana. Design/Methodology/Approach: Documentary research is the approach used to analyse the curriculum document for the programme…

Current and future sustainable biofuels; Dagens och framtidens haallbara biodrivmedel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boerjesson, Paal [Lunds Univ., Lund (Sweden); Lundgren, Joakim [Luleaa Tekniska Univ., Luleaa (Sweden); Ahlgren, Serina [Sveriges Lantbruksuniv., Uppsala (Sweden); Nystroem, Ingrid [Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels, Goeteborg (Sweden); CIT Industriell Energi., Goeteborg (Sweden)

2013-09-01

This report has been prepared as a background paper for the state investigation 'Fossil Free Vehicle Traffic'. The purpose of this study is to describe and summarize the current knowledge on production of biofuels and linkages to sustainability issues such as energy and land efficiency, GHG performance and costs. The report includes both existing and future fuel systems under development and based on different raw materials and production processes. The study has primarily a Swedish perspective, but with international views. The report includes both existing and future fuel systems under development, and based on different raw materials and production processes. The study has primarily a Swedish perspective, but with international views. The report's analysis of energy efficiency, greenhouse gas performance and production costs is based on system analysis and a life-cycle perspective. The focus is on the production chain to the produced fuel (well-to-tank). Results are based on current research and commercial development of the respective chains. They are based primarily from standardized life cycle analysis and, in some production systems, also on industrial systems analysis. These two approaches have some differences in methodology, which are highlighted in the report. In the overview values and results have been compiled to make it possible to compare the results.

Current and future sustainable biofuels; Dagens och framtidens haallbara biodrivmedel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boerjesson, Paal [Lunds Univ., Lund (Sweden); Lundgren, Joakim [Luleaa Tekniska Univ., Luleaa (Sweden); Ahlgren, Serina [Sveriges Lantbruksuniv., Uppsala (Sweden); Nystroem, Ingrid [Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels, Goeteborg (Sweden); CIT Industriell Energi., Goeteborg (Sweden)

2013-09-01

This report has been prepared as a background paper for the state investigation 'Fossil Free Vehicle Traffic'. The purpose of this study is to describe and summarize the current knowledge on production of biofuels and linkages to sustainability issues such as energy and land efficiency, GHG performance and costs. The report includes both existing and future fuel systems under development and based on different raw materials and production processes. The study has primarily a Swedish perspective, but with international views. The report includes both existing and future fuel systems under development, and based on different raw materials and production processes. The study has primarily a Swedish perspective, but with international views. The report's analysis of energy efficiency, greenhouse gas performance and production costs is based on system analysis and a life-cycle perspective. The focus is on the production chain to the produced fuel (well-to-tank). Results are based on current research and commercial development of the respective chains. They are based primarily from standardized life cycle analysis and, in some production systems, also on industrial systems analysis. These two approaches have some differences in methodology, which are highlighted in the report. In the overview values and results have been compiled to make it possible to compare the results.

Competitiveness - higher education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Labas Istvan

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Involvement of European Union plays an important role in the areas of education and training equally. The member states are responsible for organizing and operating their education and training systems themselves. And, EU policy is aimed at supporting the efforts of member states and trying to find solutions for the common challenges which appear. In order to make our future sustainable maximally; the key to it lies in education. The highly qualified workforce is the key to development, advancement and innovation of the world. Nowadays, the competitiveness of higher education institutions has become more and more appreciated in the national economy. In recent years, the frameworks of operation of higher education systems have gone through a total transformation. The number of applying students is continuously decreasing in some European countries therefore only those institutions can “survive” this shortfall, which are able to minimize the loss of the number of students. In this process, the factors forming the competitiveness of these budgetary institutions play an important role from the point of view of survival. The more competitive a higher education institution is, the greater the chance is that the students would like to continue their studies there and thus this institution will have a greater chance for the survival in the future, compared to ones lagging behind in the competition. Aim of our treatise prepared is to present the current situation and main data of the EU higher education and we examine the performance of higher education: to what extent it fulfils the strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth which is worded in the framework of Europe 2020 programme. The treatise is based on analysis of statistical data.

Electron Bernstein wave heating and current drive effects in QUEST

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Idei, H.; Zushi, H.; Hanada, K.; Nakamura, K.; Fujisawa, A.; Nagashima, Y.; Hasegawa, M.; Matsuoka, K.; Watanabe, H.; Yoshida, N.; Tokunaga, K.; Kawasaki, S.; Nakashima, H.; Higashijima, A.; Kalinnikova, E.; Sakaguchi, M.; Itado, T.; Tashima, S.; Fukuyama, A.; Ejiri, A.; Takase, Y.; Igami, H.; Kubo, S.; Toi, K.; Isobe, M.; Nagaoka, K.; Nakanishi, H.; Nishino, N.; Ueda, Y.; Kikuchi, Mitsuru; Fujita, Takaaki; Mitarai, O.; Maekawa, T.

2012-11-01

Electron Bernstein Wave Heating and Current Drive (EBWH/CD) effects have been first observed in over dense plasmas using the developed phased-array antenna (PAA) system in QUEST. Good focusing and steering properties tested in the low power facilities were confirmed with a high power level in the QUEST device. The new operational window to sustain the plasma current was observed in the RF-sustained high-density plasmas at the higher incident RF power. Increment and decrement of the plasma current and the loop voltage were observed in the over dense ohmic plasma by the RF injection respectively, indicating the EBWH/CD effects. (author)

Educating for Sustainability: Perspectives and Critical Notes on Accounting Scholars’ Role in Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

del Baldo Mara

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Education for sustainable development represents a relevant issue that allows Universities to lead and respond to social needs towards a more sustainable life and a complete change in the global paradigm of education and involvement of society. A crucial point for developing a culturally sensitive vision is to deepen the scholars’ genuine commitment to sustainability. A pillar of sustainability education should rest on authenticity, intended as coherence between the scholars’ research and teaching arguments relative to sustainability and the concrete behaviors held in their professional and personal spheres of life. Starting from this premise, the papers aims to inquire if there is a decoupling between the concepts scholars contribute to promote within the sustainability discourse and the real practice of sustainability in their personal and professional experience. “Is there a missing link between what scholars teach and study, thereby contributing to sustainability research and their daily choices and style of life?” After having presented the research design and the methodological approach adopted to empirically investigate the phenomenon the attention has been focused on the social and environmental accounting research literature, where some contributions claim for the presence of “blue meanies” that invade the world of scholarship, reflection, collegiality and hinder the development of challenges toward sustainability. The preliminary results of the explorative study suggest that a lot of tension related to education for sustainability improve the transfer of sustainable values and attitudes within the scientific community and the students, while several factors hinder sustainable behaviors in the daily professional and personal life of scholars, thus undermining relationships which are a pillar of sustainability.

Investment Management in Higher Education Institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelena Stankevičienė

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Recently, the higher education sector faces a series of changes, such as increased competition, globalization, limited funding. Limited funding does not reveal the full potential of the higher education, too little funding restricts research performance, diminishes the quality of higher education, worsen the conditions for learning and this has important implications for sustainable value creation. The article explores relationship between education, sustainability and financial indicators in order to evaluate the situation and advancement in the European countries, applied multi-criteria evaluation method MULTIMOORA. This method aims to prove that the more encourage investment in higher education and research, the more sustainable the state is and creates sustainable value. The results revealed that the more financially stronger and stable country is, the better position by assessing both the scientific and the sustainability indicators. Financially stable country can give higher investment in education, to promote the conduct of research, create conditions for the formation of high-quality R&D, to prepare highly qualified specialists.

Local Sustainability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carrizosa Umana, Julio

1998-01-01

The current polemic about the possibilities of sustainable development has led to a renovated interest for the topic of the sustainability of the communities and the local sustainability. In front of the global sustainability whose conditions have been exposed by systemic ecologists and for macro economists, the sustainability of specific places arises in the planet whose conditions are object of study of the ecology of landscapes, of the ecological economy, of the cultural anthropology, of the environmental sociology and naturally, of the integral environmentalism. In this discussion the Colombian case charges unusual interest to be one of the few countries of Latin America, where a very dense net of municipalities exists, each one with its urban helmet and with a position and some functions defined by the political constitution of the nation. This net of municipalities and of urban helmets it also constitutes net of alternative to the current macro-cephalic situation. As well as Bogota grew, in a hundred years, of less than a hundred thousand inhabitants to six million inhabitants, each one of these municipalities contains a potential of growth that depends on the characteristics of its ecological, social, economic and politic sustainability

Sustainability in Chinese Higher Educational Institutions’ Social Science Research: A Performance Interface toward Efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xianmei Wang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Sustainability issues in higher educational institutions’ (HEIs research, especially in the social science field, have attracted increasing levels of attention in higher education administration in recent decades as HEIs are confronted with a growing pressure worldwide to increase the efficiency of their research activities under a limited volume and relatively equitable division of public funding resources. This paper introduces a theoretical analysis framework based on a data envelopment analysis, separating the social science research process into a foundation stage and a construction stage, and then projecting each HEI into certain quadrants to form several clusters according to their overall and stage efficiencies and corresponding Malmquist Productivity Indices. Furthermore, the interfaces are formed in each cluster as feasible potential improvement directions. The empirical results in detail are demonstrated from a data set of Chinese HEIs in Jiangsu Province over the Twelfth Five-Year period as offering a closer approximation to the “China social science research best practice”.

Higher spin currents in the critical O(N) vector model at 1/N2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manashov, A.N.; Strohmaier, M.

2017-06-01

We calculate the anomalous dimensions of higher spin singlet currents in the critical O(N) vector model at order 1/N 2 . The results are shown to be in agreement with the four-loop perturbative computation in φ 4 theory in 4-2ε dimensions. It is known that the order 1/N anomalous dimensions of higher-spin currents happen to be the same in the Gross-Neveu and the critical vector model. On the contrary, the order 1/N 2 corrections are different. The results can also be interpreted as a prediction for the two-loop computation in the dual higher-spin gravity.

Long pulse FRC sustainment with enhanced edge driven rotating magnetic field current drive

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, A.L.; Guo, H.Y.; Miller, K.E.; Milroy, R.D.

2005-01-01

FRCs have been formed and sustained for up to 50 normal flux decay times by Rotating Magnetic Fields (RMF) in the TCS experiment. For these longer pulse times a new phenomenon has been observed: switching to a higher performance mode delineated by shallower RMF penetration, higher ratios of generated poloidal to RMF drive field, and lower overall plasma resistivity. This global data is not explainable by previous RMF theory based on uniform electron rotational velocities or by numerical calculations based on uniform plasma resistivity, but agrees in many respects with new calculations made using strongly varying resistivity profiles. In order to more realistically model RMF driven FRCs with such non-uniform resistivity profiles, a double rigid rotor model has been developed with separate inner and outer electron rotational velocities and resistivities. The results of this modeling suggest that the RMF drive results in very high resistivity in a narrow edge layer, and that the higher performance mode is characterized by a sharp reduction in resistivity over the bulk of the FRC. (author)

Sustainable flood risk management – What is sustainable?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørup, Hjalte Jomo Danielsen; Brudler, Sarah; Lerer, Sara Maria

2016-01-01

Sustainable flood risk management has to be achieved since flood protection is a fundamental societal service that we must deliver. Based on the discourse within the fields of risk management and sustainable urban water management, we discuss the necessity of assessing the sustainability of flood...... risk management, and propose an evaluation framework for doing so. We argue that it is necessary to include quantitative sustainability measures in flood risk management in order to exclude unsustainable solutions. Furthermore, we use the concept of absolute sustainability to discuss the prospects...... of maintaining current service levels without compromising future generation’s entitlement of services. Discussions on the sustainability of different overall flood risk schemes must take place. Fundamental changes in the approaches will require fundamental changes in the mind-sets of practitioners as well...

The current system of higher education in India inherits the legacy

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The current system of higher education in India inherits the legacy of colonial proposals and legislations dating back to the early 19th century. The social sciences and humanities still carry disciplinary burdens that need revisiting as we attempt to think of new educational strategies for the 21st century.

Environmental Management and Sustainability in Higher Education: The Case of Spanish Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Leon-Fernandez, Yolanda; Domínguez-Vilches, Eugenio

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse trends in implementing the main initiatives in the field of environmental management and sustainability in Spanish universities, taking as a reference point the guidelines adopted by a number of universities in countries most committed to sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach: An analysis of…

Cloud Computing in Higher Education Sector for Sustainable Development

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Yuchao

2016-01-01

Cloud computing is considered a new frontier in the field of computing, as this technology comprises three major entities namely: software, hardware and network. The collective nature of all these entities is known as the Cloud. This research aims to examine the impacts of various aspects namely: cloud computing, sustainability, performance…

Building a Sustainable Higher Education Sector in the UAE

Science.gov (United States)

Jose, Saju; Chacko, Jacob

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevant economic aspects that could affect the sustainability of the HE sector in the UAE. Design/methodology/approach: Data are collected mainly through secondary sources and based on the relevant information. Two constructs, namely, market factors and educational governance are identified…

Sustainable Universities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grindsted, Thomas Skou

2011-01-01

Declarations on Sustainability in Higher Education (SHE) can be viewed as a piece of international regulation. Over the past 30 years research at universities has produced convincing data to warn about deterioration of the environment, resource scarcity and the need for sustainability. This in turn....... Declarations tend to have impact on three trends. Firstly, there is emerging international consensus on the university’s role and function in relation to sustainable development; secondly, the emergence of national legislation, and thirdly, an emerging international competition to be leader in sustainable...

Top-Off Injection and Higher Currents at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bauer, Johannes M.; Liu, James C.; Prinz, Alyssa A.; Rokni, Sayed H.; /SLAC

2011-04-05

The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a 234 m circumference storage ring for 3 GeV electrons with its synchrotron radiation serving currently 13 beamlines with about 27 experimental stations. It operated for long time with 100 mA peak current provided by usually three injections per day. In July 2009, the maximum beam current was raised to 200 mA. Over the period from June 2009 to March 2010, Top-Off operation started at every beamline. Top-Off, i.e., the injection of electrons into the storage ring with injection stoppers open, is necessary for SSRL to reach its design current of 500 mA. In the future, the maximal power of the injection current will also soon be raised from currently 1.5 W to 5 W. The Radiation Protection Department at SLAC worked with SSRL on the specifications for the safety systems for operation with Top-Off injection and higher beam currents.

Sustained availability of trimethoprim in drinking water to achieve higher plasma sulphonamide-trimethoprim antibacterial activity in broilers.

Science.gov (United States)

Sumano, H; Hernandez, L; Gutierrez, L; Bernad-Bernad, M J

2005-02-01

(1) In order to make trimethoprim (TMP) available to broilers throughout the day, a sustained release formulation (SRF) of the drug in the form of granules was added to the water tank that supplies drinking water. (2) Broilers were initially dosed with sulphachloropiridazine-TMP (SCP-TMP 5:1) and then further medicated throughout the day, achieving in the end a dose of 30 mg/kg each of SCP and TMP (group A). Group B received a preparation with the same dose of SCP and TMP (1:1) as group A, but administered as a single dose without the SRF of TMP. Group C received the customary SCP-TMP 5:1 preparation (30 and 6 mg/kg, respectively). Water tanks were completely consumed in 3 to 4 h. (3) Broilers were bled at different times and concentration of antibacterial activity in serum determined by correlating the composite antibacterial activity of SCP and TMP with actual concentrations of these drugs by means of a microbiological agar diffusion assay. (4) Time vs serum concentrations of activity were higher in group B; the increments in the maximum serum concentration for group B over groups A and C being 39 and 67%, respectively. (5) However, the sustained concentration of activity over time, measured as the area under the cu)rve, was highest in group A. Group B had higher values for area under the curve than group C. (6) An additional dose of TMP to achieve 30 mg/kg of both SCP and TMP improves the serum concentration of this combination over the customary 5:1 proportion. The best values for sustaining antibacterial activity were obtained using a 1:1 ratio as in group A. The use of a SRF as in group A may translate into better clinical results.

Conceptualizing Sustainably Produced Food for Promotional Purposes: A Sustainable Marketing Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cecilia Solér

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Progress in transforming current food consumption and production practice in a sustainable direction is slow. Communicative, sustainable consumer policy instruments such as eco-labeling schemes have limited impact outside the green segment and within the mainstream market. This article asks how sustainably produced food can be described in order to promote such food. Based on six cases, it aims to conceptualize the common denominators of sustainable food production by drawing on recent literature on sustainable marketing and on food and sustainable development. Contradictions and implications in terms of labeling schemes, global sourcing and consumer food practice are discussed.

Academics' conceptions of teaching sustainability

OpenAIRE

Wyatt, Margaret

2017-01-01

Over the last decade a growing number of universities have committed to ensuring that sustainability is integral to higher education with the intent of preparing eco-literate graduates who can make positive contributions to the sustainability of the environment. With particular consideration for the increasingly internationalised teaching environment of many higher education institutions, this study sought to explore how academics' conceptions of teaching sustainability might d...

Sustainability Literacy of Older People in Retirement Villages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Xia

2014-01-01

Full Text Available With many developed countries experiencing the aging of the population, older people play a large role in contributing to environmental problems but also to environmental solutions. The purpose of this research is to understand the awareness and behavior of current older people living in retirement villages towards sustainability development. To achieve this, a sustainability literacy survey was conducted with 65 older residents of a private retirement village located 10 Km outside the Brisbane, Australia’s central business district (CBD. Most of residents recognized the importance of environment protection and would like to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. In addition, the majority were willing to pay higher prices for a living environment with sustainable features. The importance of positive social communications was emphasized with most residents having established good relationships with others in the village. The findings provide an important insight into consumer perspectives regarding the sustainable features that should and can be incorporated into the village planning and development.

Sustainability literacy of older people in retirement villages.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Bo; Zuo, Jian; Skitmore, Martin; Buys, Laurie; Hu, Xin

2014-01-01

With many developed countries experiencing the aging of the population, older people play a large role in contributing to environmental problems but also to environmental solutions. The purpose of this research is to understand the awareness and behavior of current older people living in retirement villages towards sustainability development. To achieve this, a sustainability literacy survey was conducted with 65 older residents of a private retirement village located 10 Km outside the Brisbane, Australia's central business district (CBD). Most of residents recognized the importance of environment protection and would like to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. In addition, the majority were willing to pay higher prices for a living environment with sustainable features. The importance of positive social communications was emphasized with most residents having established good relationships with others in the village. The findings provide an important insight into consumer perspectives regarding the sustainable features that should and can be incorporated into the village planning and development.

Relay cropping as a sustainable approach: problems and opportunities for sustainable crop production.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanveer, Mohsin; Anjum, Shakeel Ahmad; Hussain, Saddam; Cerdà, Artemi; Ashraf, Umair

2017-03-01

Climate change, soil degradation, and depletion of natural resources are becoming the most prominent challenges for crop productivity and environmental sustainability in modern agriculture. In the scenario of conventional farming system, limited chances are available to cope with these issues. Relay cropping is a method of multiple cropping where one crop is seeded into standing second crop well before harvesting of second crop. Relay cropping may solve a number of conflicts such as inefficient use of available resources, controversies in sowing time, fertilizer application, and soil degradation. Relay cropping is a complex suite of different resource-efficient technologies, which possesses the capability to improve soil quality, to increase net return, to increase land equivalent ratio, and to control the weeds and pest infestation. The current review emphasized relay cropping as a tool for crop diversification and environmental sustainability with special focus on soil. Briefly, benefits, constraints, and opportunities of relay cropping keeping the goals of higher crop productivity and sustainability have also been discussed in this review. The research and knowledge gap in relay cropping was also highlighted in order to guide the further studies in future.

Mexican energy policy and sustainability indicators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheinbaum-Pardo, Claudia; Ruiz-Mendoza, Belizza Janet; Rodríguez-Padilla, Víctor

2012-01-01

The authors analyze the Mexican energy policy taking as reference the methodological framework for sustainable energy development proposed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. This methodology takes eight related indicators to the social, environmental and economic dimensions in order to calculate a general sustainability indicator for the energy sector. In this methodology, the weight of each dimension is different; namely, the social and environmental issues have less relevance than the economic issues. The authors use this methodology because government institutions as the Department of Energy and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have used some indicators from such a methodology to propose plans, programs, projects and bills. Authors know of the existence of other methodologies about sustainability. Nonetheless, opting for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean's methodology is convenient because this organization is a respectable authority for civil servants from the Mexican institutions. Our objective is just to contrast the sustainability grade of the energy sector between 1990 and 2008 for Mexico whose government started reforms in the 1990s. It concludes that those reforms did not bring about a higher sustainability level for the energy sector. - Highlights: ► We used the OLADE, CEPAL and GTZ's methodology to calculate sustainability indicators for the Mexican energy sector. ► We studied the Mexican energy policy from 1990 to date and presented it. ► Currently, the Mexican energy sector is less sustainable than in 1990.

Hard Times in Higher Education: The Closure of Subject Centres and the Implications for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brian Chalkley

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Within many British Universities and, indeed, across higher education internationally, how best to provide education for sustainable development (ESD has become an increasingly important issue. There is now a widespread view that higher education sectors have a key part to play in preparing societies for the transition to a low carbon economy and the shift towards more sustainable ways of living and working. In the UK, a leading role in this field has been played by the Higher Education Academy and especially its network of 24 Subject Centres, each of which promotes curriculum enhancement in a particular discipline area. The mission of the Higher Education Academy has been to help raise the overall quality of the student learning experience across all disciplines and all Higher Education institutions (HEIs. As part of promoting and supporting many kinds of curriculum innovation and staff development, the HE Academy has championed the cause of ESD. Now, however, as a result of government spending cuts, the Academy is facing severe budget reductions and all its Subject Centres are soon to close. At this pivotal moment, the purpose of this paper is, therefore, to review the HE Academy’s past contribution to ESD and to explore the likely future implications of the demise of its Subject Centres. The paper ends by outlining some ideas as to how the ESD agenda might be advanced in the post-Subject Centre era, in the light of the Academy’s intention to support subject communities under its new structure. The paper has been developed through participation in key committees, engagement with Academy and Subject Centre staff, as well as through a literature review.

Spin force and the generation of sustained spin current in time-dependent Rashba and Dresselhaus systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ho, Cong Son; Tan, Seng Ghee; Jalil, Mansoor B. A.

2014-01-01

The generation of spin current and spin polarization in a two-dimensional electron gas structure is studied in the presence of Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit couplings (SOC), the strength of the latter being modulated in time by an ac gate voltage. By means of the non-Abelian gauge field approach, we established the relation between the Lorentz spin force and the spin current in the SOC system, and showed that the longitudinal component of the spin force induces a transverse spin current. For a constant (time-invariant) Rashba system, we recover the universal spin Hall conductivity of e/(8π) , derived previously via the Berry phase and semi-classical methods. In the case of a time-dependent SOC system, the spin current is sustained even under strong impurity scattering. We evaluated the ac spin current generated by a time-modulated Rashba SOC in the absence of any dc electric field. The magnitude of the spin current reaches a maximum when the modulation frequency matches the Larmor frequency of the electrons

Sustainable Academia: Translating the Vision of a Full Sustainable University into a Measurable Reality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonios Maragakis

2017-04-01

Full Text Available There is a growing public expectation that universities should start focusing on delivering sustainability. The topic of sustainability in higher education has gathered a significant amount of interest from students, academics, governments and international organizations. With a plethora of declarations, initiatives, marketing and assessments, there is a need to assess what the stakeholders want in order to make decisions regarding an institutions sustainability. Ultimately, students are the ones using these sustainability marketing materials to assist in their decision at which institution they will pursue their studies. The sheer volume of interpretations of the word sustainability with regards to higher education institution leaves ample room for potentially misguided initiatives or marketing. A universal system for assessing a higher educational institution’s sustainability has not been translated into a measurable reality. It is proposed that a universal system would help create a common understanding of sustainability within higher education institutions and would help in stakeholder understanding, institutional accountability and impactful application of sustainable initiatives. This research looked to answer if a holistic framework could be created that would aid stakeholders in reviewing a university’s level of sustainability. And, if so, if this vision of a fully sustainable university could be translated into a measurable reality. The research was approached in a structured way. Each chapter represents a published and peer-reviewed step towards addressing if a holistic framework could be created that would aid students in reviewing sustainability tools, assessments and marketing. The qualitative and quantitative conclusions from each chapter influenced the subsequent chapters, eventually leading to the creation and testing of two digital tools. The interpretations of these published chapters are found in the conclusion of this

Higher spin currents in the critical O(N) vector model at 1/N{sup 2}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manashov, A.N. [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). 2. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Regensburg Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Skvortsov, E.D. [Munich Univ. (Germany). Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics; Lebedev Institute of Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation); Strohmaier, M. [Regensburg Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik

2017-06-15

We calculate the anomalous dimensions of higher spin singlet currents in the critical O(N) vector model at order 1/N{sup 2}. The results are shown to be in agreement with the four-loop perturbative computation in φ{sup 4} theory in 4-2ε dimensions. It is known that the order 1/N anomalous dimensions of higher-spin currents happen to be the same in the Gross-Neveu and the critical vector model. On the contrary, the order 1/N{sup 2} corrections are different. The results can also be interpreted as a prediction for the two-loop computation in the dual higher-spin gravity.

Strategic Partnership: Potential for Ensuring the University Sustainable Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Salimova

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the article is to research the theoretical approaches to strategic partnerships of universities, analyse the current trends of partnership development of universities in the context of sustainable development, discuss the experience of the National Research Ogarev Mordovia State University in terms of strategic partnerships creation and define the new opportunities of developing the strategic partnerships. The methodology of the paper is based on comprehensive literature review in the sphere of university partnerships. The authors use a comparative method, analysis and summarizing aimed on defining the current trends and issues related to strategic partnership. There has been developed the partnership commitment chart of key stakeholders of universities to show current points and target points. The research findings are generalization of the strategic partnership theory with the focus on university activities in reference to sustainable development, clarification of current trends and issues of university strategic partnership, definition of further opportunities and methods in the area under consideration. Under modern conditions it is extremely important to develop a strategic partnership in the sphere of higher education. Universities are open institutions and they need to be involved into different processes of economy and society development. Article’s significance is in a new view on strategic partnership in the context of sustainable development of universities.

What current literature tells us about sustainable diets: emerging research linking dietary patterns, environmental sustainability, and economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Auestad, Nancy; Fulgoni, Victor L

2015-01-01

The concept of sustainable diets, although not new, is gaining increased attention across the globe, especially in relation to projected population growth and growing concerns about climate change. As defined by the FAO (Proceedings of the International Scientific Symposium, Biodiversity and Sustainable Diets 2010; FAO 2012), "Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations." Consistent and credible science that brings together agriculture, food systems, nutrition, public health, environment, economics, culture, and trade is needed to identify synergies and trade-offs and to inform guidance on vital elements of healthy, sustainable diets. The aim of this article is to review the emerging research on environmental and related economic impacts of dietary patterns, including habitual eating patterns, nutritionally balanced diets, and a variety of different dietary scenarios. Approaches to research designs, methodologies, and data sources are compared and contrasted to identify research gaps and future research needs. To date, it is difficult to assimilate all of the disparate approaches, and more concerted efforts for multidisciplinary studies are needed. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

Fur and sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjold, Else; Ræbild, Ulla; Tanderup, Sisse

2016-01-01

interviews and observations at the premises of Kopenhagen Fur, as well as with stakeholders and collaborate partners in Denmark and in China. The definition of sustainability in the report must be seen as related to Design School Kolding's research umbrella of Sustainable Futures - a term chosen to unite...... practices around retail and communication (by Else Skjold, PhD in user studies and business management). On the basis of these four sub-projects, the report concludes the following: Currently, fur is placed very centrally in the moral debates around sustainability, as fur farming highligts environmental...... sustainability within the garment sector at large, and to define its own unique position for the future. With a departure in the the four sub-projects, the report lists a line of recommendations for how it would be possible to develop and revitalise traditional and current practices around fur design...

Transformative, transgressive social learning: rethinking higher education pedagogy in times of systemic global dysfunction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lotz-Sisitka, Heila; Wals, A.E.J.; Kronlid, David; McGarry, Dylan

2015-01-01

The nature of the sustainability challenges currently at hand is such that dominant pedagogies and forms of learning that characterize higher education need to be reconsidered to enable students and staff to deal with accelerating change, increasing complexity, contested knowledge claims and

Heating and current drive requirements for ideal MHD stability and ITB sustainment in ITER steady state scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Poli, Francesca

2012-10-01

Steady state scenarios envisaged for ITER aim at optimizing the bootstrap current, while maintaining sufficient confinement and stability to provide the necessary fusion yield. Non-inductive scenarios will need to operate with Internal Transport Barriers (ITBs) in order to reach adequate fusion gain at typical currents of 9 MA. However, the large pressure gradients associated with ITBs in regions of weak or negative magnetic shear can be conducive to ideal MHD instabilities in a wide range of βN, reducing the no-wall limit. Scenarios are established as relaxed flattop states with time-dependent transport simulations with TSC [1]. Fully non-inductive configurations with current in the range of 7-10 MA and various heating mixes (NB, EC, IC and LH) have been studied against variations of the pressure profile peaking and of the Greenwald fraction. It is found that stable equilibria have qmin> 2 and moderate ITBs at 2/3 of the minor radius [2]. The ExB flow shear from toroidal plasma rotation is expected to be low in ITER, with a major role in the ITB dynamics being played by magnetic geometry. Combinations of H&CD sources that maintain reverse or weak magnetic shear profiles throughout the discharge and ρ(qmin)>=0.5 are the focus of this work. The ITER EC upper launcher, designed for NTM control, can provide enough current drive off-axis to sustain moderate ITBs at mid-radius and maintain a non-inductive current of 8-9MA and H98>=1.5 with the day one heating mix. LH heating and current drive is effective in modifying the current profile off-axis, facilitating the formation of stronger ITBs in the rampup phase, their sustainment at larger radii and larger bootstrap fraction. The implications for steady state operation and fusion performance are discussed.[4pt] [1] Jardin S.C. et al, J. Comput. Phys. 66 (1986) 481[0pt] [2] Poli F.M. et al, Nucl. Fusion 52 (2012) 063027.

Students and Instant Messaging: Survey on Current Use and Demands for Higher Education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Bakker, Gijs; Sloep, Peter; Jochems, Wim

2008-01-01

De Bakker, G., Sloep, P. B., & Jochems, W. M. G. (2007). Students and instant messaging: survey on current use and demands for higher education. Research in Learning Technology (ALT-J), 15(2), 143-153.

Current and potential sustainable corn stover feedstock for biofuel production in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Zhengxi; Liu, Shu-Guang; Tieszen, Larry L.; Bliss, Norman

2012-01-01

Increased demand for corn (Zea mays L.) stover as a feedstock for cellulosic ethanol raises concerns about agricultural sustainability. Excessive corn stover harvesting could have long-term impacts on soil quality. We estimated current and future stover production and evaluated the potential harvestable stover amount (HSA) that could be used for biofuel feedstock in the United States by defining the minimum stover requirement (MSR) associated with the current soil organic carbon (SOC) content, tillage practices, and crop rotation systems. Here we show that the magnitude of the current HSA is limited (31 Tg y−1, dry matter) due to the high MSR for maintaining the current SOC content levels of soils that have a high carbon content. An alternative definition of MSR for soils with a moderate level of SOC content could significantly elevate the annual HSA to 68.7 Tg, or even to 132.2 Tg if the amount of currently applied manure is counted to partially offset the MSR. In the future, a greater potential for stover feedstock could come from an increase in stover yield, areal harvest index, and/or the total planted area. These results suggest that further field experiments on MSR should be designed to identify differences in MSR magnitude between maintaining SOC content and preventing soil erosion, and to understand the role of current SOC content level in determining MSR from soils with a wide range of carbon contents and climatic conditions.

Community Foresight for Urban Sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Jonas Egmose; Eames, Malcolm

2011-01-01

be necessary to deliver sustainability. In so doing, however, backcasting may run the risk of obscuring significant differences in current lived experience, negating alternative problem framings and normatively derived views of what constitutes sustainability. This paper reports an innovative UK attempt...... to develop an inclusive 'bottom-up' Community Foresight process for urban sustainability research. Unlike most backcasting studies, the methodology was initially grounded in an exploration of the community participants' current lived experience and understandings of sustainability. Given the particular...... purpose of the study the primary outcome from the work was structured around the articulation of a 'community-led' agenda for urban sustainability research, rather than an explicit normative vision and transition pathway. However, the methodology could easily be adapted for use in other contexts...

Sustainable Cities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Georg, Susse; Garza de Linde, Gabriela Lucía

Judging from the number of communities and cities striving or claiming to be sustainable and how often eco-development is invoked as the means for urban regeneration, it appears that sustainable and eco-development have become “the leading paradigm within urban development” (Whitehead 2003....../assessment tool. The context for our study is urban regeneration in one Danish city, which had been suffering from industrial decline and which is currently investing in establishing a “sustainable city”. Based on this case study we explore how the insights and inspiration evoked in working with the tool...

A Study of Sustainable Assessment Theory in Higher Education Tutorials

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Robert J.; Skinner, William F.; Schwabrow, Lynsey A.

2013-01-01

A study of sustainable assessment theory in nine tutorial courses at four colleges demonstrated that three long-term learning outcomes improved: Independence, Intellectual Maturity and Creativity. Eight of 10 traits associated with these outcomes were validated through internal reliability, faculty and student rubrics, and faculty case studies…

Sustainability Innovators and Anchor Draggers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gjerdrum Pedersen, Esben Rahbek; Reitan Andersen, Kirsti

2015-01-01

in an online study on sustainable fashion. Findings – The results from the study indicates that the fashion industry faces immense social and environmental challenges and that the scale and scope of current approaches to sustainability are limited and fail to address more fundamental challenges linked......Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore current barriers and opportunities for sustainability in the fashion industry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a study among 36 fashion experts from academia, industry, and non-governmental organizations, who took part...... understanding of current challenges and opportunities within the industry, as experienced by key stakeholders in the field. Originality/value – The expert study approach moves beyond “good practice” case studies and allow a broader discussion of micro- and macro challenges for sustainability within the fashion...

The Need for Context-Sensitive Measures of Educational Quality in Transnational Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Pyvis, David

2011-01-01

This paper argues that the current approach to educational quality formation in transnational higher education promotes educational imperialism, and that guidelines and practices should be altered to embrace context-sensitive measures of quality. The claims are sustained by findings from a study that investigated how academics understood and…

Process framework for identifying sustainability aspects in university curricula and integrating education for sustainable development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Tove; Sammalisto, Kaisu; Grindsted, Thomas Skou

2015-01-01

Sustainability aspects in higher education must be enhanced with more concrete actions. Universities are globally required to have quality assurance to secure and improve teaching and learning, and they use management systems to this aim. Integrating education for sustainable development...... and management systems are alike in that they are based on continuous improvement and systematic thinking; for both processes all stakeholders need to be involved. Although quality assurance is compulsory for higher education, education for sustainable development has barely been examined or integrated...... in this context. This article examines how voluntary integration of education for sustainable development into management systems at universities could facilitate a scheme to overcome the challenges to integrating education for sustainable development that were identified in previous research. For this, a process...

Assessing the Impact of a Program Designed to Develop Sustainability Leadership amongst Staff Members in Higher Education Institutes: A Case Study from a Community of Practice Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Alkaher, Iris; Avissar, Ilana

2018-01-01

This study focuses on the impact of a sustainability leadership development program (SLDP) designed to develop staff members as leaders who encourage sustainability practices within institutions of higher education (IHE). Using the framework of community of practice (CoP), we explored the program's contribution by interviewing 16 staff members who…

Students and recorded lectures: survey on current use and demands for higher education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gorissen, Pierre; Van Bruggen, Jan; Jochems, Wim

2012-01-01

Gorissen, P., Van Bruggen, J., & Jochems, W. M. G. (2012). Students and recorded lectures: survey on current use and demands for higher education. Research In Learning Technology, 20(3). doi:10.3402/rlt.v20i0.17299

Sustainability and Organizational Change by Sustainable Crediting Therapy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragoş Ilie

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that one of the therapies to achieve sustainability and organizational change in the context of current challenges in the national economies is sustainable crediting. The research method is based on a survey of 30 commercial companies from various fields of activity that have or have not implemented, at the leadership level, the concept of sustainable crediting. The data collecting and processing approach has resulted in the determination of the main economic-financial indicators for a period of 5 years, indicators used by banks in relation with the credited organizations. The main results show that companies that have implemented the sustainable crediting concept are more able to achieve sustainability in their developed activity, as well as organizational change with positive effects on their business and on the company as a whole. The concept of sustainable crediting implies the capitalization of the commercial companies, the increase of the loan portfolio quality, the achievement of the financial balance and environmental protection

Revitalizing Higher Education. Issues in Higher Education, Volume 3. First Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Salmi, Jamil, Ed.; Verspoor, Adriaan M., Ed.

This volume contains 13 papers on experiences with reform and innovation in higher education and their implications for developing countries. Four themes are highlighted: higher education and development, performance assessment, sustainable financing, and effectiveness in governance and management. The papers include: "Introduction:…

Cork for sustainable product design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mestre, A.C.; Gil, L.

2011-01-01

Sustainable Product Design is currently accepted as one of the most promising trends in the “Sustainable Development” movement. It is often seen as a facilitation tool to implement Sustainability in practice, by improving the life cycle and eco-efficiency of products, by promoting dematerialization

COMMUNITARIAN INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION: CURRENT ISSUES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helio Radke Bittencourt

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Since 2010, the Brazilian communitarian institutions for higher education are not included officially under this designation in the INEP’s microdata, with the extinction of the category “communitarian, religious and philanthropic”. Since then, the Brazilian private’s higher education institutions are classified according to their legal nature: for-profit or non-profit. Nevertheless, the new law 12.881 of 2013, enacted in November 2013, has changed this reality after the approval by the National Congress, establishing the definition and purpose of the Community institutions, and confirming, in particular, their characteristics of non-profit institutions belonging to civil society, and their organization into associations or foundations (BRAZIL, 2013. The recent expansion of the federal and for-profit higher education institutions has directly affected the so far called communitarian institutions, which present differentiated characteristics compared to forprofit private higher education institutions as well as public education. In this article, data and contemporary aspects related to the new scenario of Brazilian higher education are analyzed, with special focus on higher education institutions members of the Association of Community Universities (ABRUC, and were found better performance of these ones in comparison to the private for-profit higher education institutions. The obtained results, combined with the regional impact of the communitarian higher education institutions, justify the importance of these institutions to improve the consolidation of higher education in Brazil.

Current and future sustainable biofuels - Summary; Dagens och framtidens haallbara biodrivmedel - Sammanfattning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boerjesson, Paal [Lunds Univ., Lund (Sweden); Lundgren, Joakim [Luleaa Tekniska Univ., Luleaa (Sweden); Ahlgren, Serina [Sveriges Lantbruksuniv., Uppsala (Sweden); Nystroem, Ingrid [Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels, Goeteborg (Sweden); CIT Industriell Energi., Goeteborg (Sweden)

2013-09-01

This report has been prepared as a background paper for the state investigation 'Fossil Free Vehicle Traffic'. The purpose of this study is to describe and summarize the current knowledge on production of biofuels and linkages to sustainability issues such as energy and land efficiency, GHG performance and costs. The report includes both existing and future fuel systems under development and based on different raw materials and production processes. The study has primarily a Swedish perspective, but with international views. The report includes both existing and future fuel systems under development, and based on different raw materials and production processes. The study has primarily a Swedish perspective, but with international views. The report's analysis of energy efficiency, greenhouse gas performance and production costs is based on system analysis and a life-cycle perspective. The focus is on the production chain to the produced fuel (well-to-tank). Results are based on current research and commercial development of the respective chains. They are based primarily from standardized life cycle analysis and, in some production systems, also on industrial systems analysis. These two approaches have some differences in methodology, which are highlighted in the report. In the overview values and results have been compiled to make it possible to compare the results.

Current State and Future Prospects of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Haruhiko

2017-01-01

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) ran from 2005 to 2014. This study concerns the concepts of Sustainable Development (SD) and ESD. The term "sustainable development" was coined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 as the key word in integrating environment and development. SD achieved international consensus at…

What Current Literature Tells Us about Sustainable Diets: Emerging Research Linking Dietary Patterns, Environmental Sustainability, and Economics12

Science.gov (United States)

Auestad, Nancy; Fulgoni, Victor L

2015-01-01

The concept of sustainable diets, although not new, is gaining increased attention across the globe, especially in relation to projected population growth and growing concerns about climate change. As defined by the FAO (Proceedings of the International Scientific Symposium, Biodiversity and Sustainable Diets 2010; FAO 2012), “Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations.” Consistent and credible science that brings together agriculture, food systems, nutrition, public health, environment, economics, culture, and trade is needed to identify synergies and trade-offs and to inform guidance on vital elements of healthy, sustainable diets. The aim of this article is to review the emerging research on environmental and related economic impacts of dietary patterns, including habitual eating patterns, nutritionally balanced diets, and a variety of different dietary scenarios. Approaches to research designs, methodologies, and data sources are compared and contrasted to identify research gaps and future research needs. To date, it is difficult to assimilate all of the disparate approaches, and more concerted efforts for multidisciplinary studies are needed. PMID:25593141

Sustainability or Bust: Malaysian Home Buyers’ Stated Preferences for Sus-Tainable Housing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syahid A.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The lack of data on sustainable home buying behaviour in developing countries such as Malaysia is due to the absence of sustainable housing itself. However, it is still possible to solicit home buyers for their stated preferences and quantify its effects on housing demand. In this study, a sample of 300 responses to a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE on sustainable housing features was analysed using the “support.CEs” program. This study found that the addition of sustainable features; renewable energy generation, enhanced soundproofing and ventilation, energy saving features, and higher green area ratios significantly increase home buyer’s willingness to pay (WTP for sustainable housing.

Higher-order turbulence statistics of wave–current flow over a submerged hemisphere

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barman, Krishnendu; Debnath, Koustuv; Mazumder, Bijoy S, E-mail: debnath_koustuv@yahoo.com [Department of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Howrah 711103, West Bengal (India)

2017-04-15

Higher-order turbulence characteristics such as turbulence production, turbulence kinetic energy flux, third order moments and velocity spectra associated with turbulent bursting events due to the influence of a submerged hemisphere under wave–current interactions are presented. The velocity components were measured using three dimensional (3D) 16 MHz micro-acoustic Doppler velocimetry (Micro-ADV). In the wave–current interactions, the contributions of turbulent bursting events such as ejections and sweeps significantly reduce in comparison to the current-only case. The distributions of the mean time intervals of ejection and sweeping events are found to alter due to the superposition of surface waves. Results also depict that the turbulence production in the wake region of the hemisphere reduces remarkably, due to the superposition of surface waves on the current. Further, spectral and co-spectral analysis demonstrates that there is a significant reduction of power spectral peak for both longitudinal and bottom-normal velocities upon superposition of surface waves, which signifies a remarkable change in energy distribution between different frequencies of waves. (paper)

Sustainable Agriculture in Print: Current Books. Special Reference Briefs: SRB 95-02.

Science.gov (United States)

National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD.

Prepared by the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) staff and volunteers, this annotated bibliography provides a list of 85 recently published books pertaining to sustainable agriculture. AFSIC focuses on alternative farming systems (e.g., sustainable, low-input, regenerative, biodynamic, and organic) that maintain agricultural…

Advancing higher education for sustainable development: international insights and critical reflections

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lozano, R.; Lozano, F.J.; Mulder, K. de; Huisingh, D.; Waas, T.

2013-01-01

Historically, universities have played many roles in transforming societies, by educating decision-makers, leaders, entrepreneurs, and academics. However, education and research on sustainability in universities is at an early stage in many institutions. This introduction highlights findings from

Understanding water deficit stress-induced changes in the basic metabolism of higher plants - biotechnologically and sustainably improving agriculture and the ecoenvironment in arid regions of the globe.

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Hong-Bo; Chu, Li-Ye; Jaleel, C Abdul; Manivannan, P; Panneerselvam, R; Shao, Ming-An

2009-01-01

Water is vital for plant growth, development and productivity. Permanent or temporary water deficit stress limits the growth and distribution of natural and artificial vegetation and the performance of cultivated plants (crops) more than any other environmental factor. Productive and sustainable agriculture necessitates growing plants (crops) in arid and semiarid regions with less input of precious resources such as fresh water. For a better understanding and rapid improvement of soil-water stress tolerance in these regions, especially in the water-wind eroded crossing region, it is very important to link physiological and biochemical studies to molecular work in genetically tractable model plants and important native plants, and further extending them to practical ecological restoration and efficient crop production. Although basic studies and practices aimed at improving soil water stress resistance and plant water use efficiency have been carried out for many years, the mechanisms involved at different scales are still not clear. Further understanding and manipulating soil-plant water relationships and soil-water stress tolerance at the scales of ecology, physiology and molecular biology can significantly improve plant productivity and environmental quality. Currently, post-genomics and metabolomics are very important in exploring anti-drought gene resources in various life forms, but modern agriculturally sustainable development must be combined with plant physiological measures in the field, on the basis of which post-genomics and metabolomics have further practical prospects. In this review, we discuss physiological and molecular insights and effects in basic plant metabolism, drought tolerance strategies under drought conditions in higher plants for sustainable agriculture and ecoenvironments in arid and semiarid areas of the world. We conclude that biological measures are the bases for the solutions to the issues relating to the different types of

Web Content Analysis On Sustainable Campus Operation (SCO Initiatives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razman Ruzaimah

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse the current practices implemented in global universities for achieving sustainability throughout campus operations. This study adopted a web content analysis method where 30 international green universities’ websites have been thoroughly examined to identify common initiatives implemented to achieve sustainability through campus operations. The findings are ranked based on the implementation of these initiatives by participating universities. From the websites reviewed, as much as 31 initiatives have been identified as common initiatives frequently implemented by green universities to achieve sustainability in campus operations. It was found that the common initiatives frequently implemented by most of the universities include ‘Provide bin with clearly marked signs to increase the number of recycling items’, and ‘Generate electricity on campus by establishing power generation plants’ with 87% and 83% respectively. This paper fills the gap by presenting the investigation of sustainability initiatives from some of the major green universities internationally. It is suggested that higher education institutions, particularly Malaysian universities, initiate or manage their implementation of sustainable campus operation (SCO initiatives based on the findings of this research.

Higher Education in Kenya: An Assessment of Current Responses to the Imperative of Widening Access

Science.gov (United States)

Odhiambo, George

2016-01-01

Higher education is a key factor in a nation's effort to develop a highly skilled workforce for competing in the global economy. In this paper, current trends in accessibility, equity, participation and financing of higher education in Kenya are examined. The paper explores the challenges which need to be confronted and discusses the way forward…

Magnetic helicity balance in the Sustained Spheromak Plasma Experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stallard, B.W.; Hooper, E.B.; Woodruff, S.; Bulmer, R.H.; Hill, D.N.; McLean, H.S.; Wood, R.D.

2003-01-01

The magnetic helicity balance between the helicity input injected by a magnetized coaxial gun, the rate-of-change in plasma helicity content, and helicity dissipation in electrode sheaths and Ohmic losses have been examined in the Sustained Spheromak Plasma Experiment (SSPX) [E. B. Hooper, L. D. Pearlstein, and R. H. Bulmer, Nucl. Fusion 39, 863 (1999)]. Helicity is treated as a flux function in the mean-field approximation, allowing separation of helicity drive and losses between closed and open field volumes. For nearly sustained spheromak plasmas with low fluctuations, helicity balance analysis implies a decreasing transport of helicity from the gun input into the spheromak core at higher spheromak electron temperature. Long pulse discharges with continuously increasing helicity and larger fluctuations show higher helicity coupling from the edge to the spheromak core. The magnitude of the sheath voltage drop, inferred from cathode heating and a current threshold dependence of the gun voltage, shows that sheath losses are important and reduce the helicity injection efficiency in SSPX

Sustainable Development of Geothermal Industry in China: An Overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xu Bang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With a wide distribution, large reserves, low cost, sustainable energy use and environmental protection and other unparalleled advantages, geothermal energy resources is important for China’s energy structure adjustment, energy conservation and environment improvement. Currently, geothermal utilization in China is still in its infancy, and Sustainable Development of the geothermal industry is also having a lot of problems. In this paper, the current research on sustainable development of geothermal industry focuses on two aspects: 1. the current situation of geothermal industry development and existing problems, 2. the current situation of sustainable development of the geothermal industry. On the basis of the review, some suggestions for further study on the sustainable development of geothermal industry are put forward.

General Technical Approvals for Decentralised Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS—The Current Situation in Germany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carsten Dierkes

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The use of decentralised, sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS for the treatment of stormwater runoff is becoming increasingly prevalent in Germany. Decentralised SUDS can offer a viable and attractive alternative to end of pipe treatment systems for stormwater runoff from urban areas. However, there is still some uncertainty regarding the long-term performance of SUDS, and the general legislative requirements for SUDS approval and testing. Whilst the allowable pollution levels in stormwater runoff that infiltrate into ground and/or water table are regulated across Germany by the Federal Soil Protection Law, there is presently no federal law addressing the discharge requirements for surface water runoff. The lack of clear guidance can make it difficult for planners and designers to implement these innovative and sustainable stormwater treatment systems. This study clarifies the current understanding of urban stormwater treatment requirements and new technical approval guidelines for decentralised SUDS devices in Germany. The study findings should assist researchers, designers and asset managers to better anticipate and understand the performance, effective life-spans, and the planning and maintenance requirements for decentralised SUDS systems. This should help promote even greater use of these systems in the future.

Electric current precedes emergence of a lateral root in higher plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamada, S; Ezaki, S; Hayashi, K; Toko, K; Yamafuji, K

1992-10-01

Stable electrochemical patterns appear spontaneously around roots of higher plants and are closely related to growth. An electric potential pattern accompanied by lateral root emergence was measured along the surface of the primary root of adzuki bean (Phaseolus angularis) over 21 h using a microelectrode manipulated by a newly developed apparatus. The electric potential became lower at the point where a lateral root emerged. This change preceded the emergence of the lateral root by about 10 h. A theory is presented for calculating two-dimensional patterns of electric potential and electric current density around the primary root (and a lateral root) using only data on the one-dimensional electric potential measured near the surface of the primary root. The development of the lateral root inside the primary root is associated with the influx of electric current of about 0.7 muA.cm(-2) at the surface.

Divergent Evolution in Education for Sustainable Development Policy in the United Kingdom: Current Status, Best Practice, and Opportunities for the Future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Scott

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the current status of all aspects of education for sustainable development (ESD across the United Kingdom (UK, drawing on evidence from its political jurisdictions (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and setting out some characteristics of best practice. The paper analyzes current barriers to progress, and outlines future opportunities for enhancing the core role of education and learning in the pursuit of a more sustainable future. Although effective ESD exists at all levels, and in most learning contexts across the UK, with good teaching and enhanced learner outcomes, the authors argue that a wider adoption of ESD would result from the development of a strategic framework which puts it at the core of the education policy agenda in every jurisdiction. This would provide much needed coherence, direction and impetus to existing initiatives, scale up and build on existing good practice, and prevent unnecessary duplication of effort and resources. The absence of an overarching UK strategy for sustainable development that sets out a clear vision about the contribution learning can make to its goals is a major barrier to progress. This strategy needs to be coupled with the establishment of a pan-UK forum for overseeing the promotion, implementation and evaluation of ESD.

Beyond (eco)design : Current approaches to sustainable packaging design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wever, R.

2014-01-01

Packaging has always received a lot of attention within the field of design for sustainability. The classical approach has been to mainly focus on reducing the impact of the packaging. This approach stems from the ill-informed position that packaging is superfluous, or at best there only for

Sustainable transport project evaluation and decision support: indicators and planning criteria for sustainable development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Salling, Kim Bang; Pryn, Marie Ridley

2015-01-01

is adopted. The SUSTAIN-DSS model rests upon multi-criteria decision analysis and planning workshops in order to combine the use of qualitative and quantitative assessments. This article stresses the necessity of revising current planning paradigms such as cost-benefit analysis (CBA) but also to make clear......This article will expose the necessity for a sustainable planning and decision support framework for transport infrastructure assessment. This will be operationalized through a set of planning criteria and scenario alternatives, which is assessed in the SUSTAIN decision support system (SUSTAIN......-DSS) model. A part of the decision support framework will be tested in a case study in Denmark, concerning the problem of congestion on the current bridge crossing Roskilde Fjord in the city of Frederikssund. This article suggests including in a combination both reference class forecasting and quantitative...

Is Mass Customization Sustainable?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Thomas Ditlev; Jørgensen, Kaj Asbjørn; Nielsen, Kjeld

2011-01-01

Mass customizers are like other companies currently experiencing an increasing customer demand for environmentally sustainable products as well as an increasingly strict legislation regarding environmental sustainability. This paper addresses the issue whether the concepts mass customization...... and sustainability are fundamentally compatible by asking the question: can a mass customized product be sustainable? Several factors could indicate that mass customized products are less sustainable than standardized products; however other factors suggest the opposite. This paper explores these factors during...... three life cycle phases for a product: Production, Use and End of Life. It is concluded that there is not an unambiguous causal relationship between mass customization and sustainability; however several factors unique to mass customized products are essential to consider during product and process...

The Place of Content and Pedagogy in Shaping Sustainability Learning Outcomes in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Mintz, Keren; Tal, Tali

2018-01-01

This research investigates the ways in which undergraduate courses dealing with the environment address sustainable development (SD), and contribute to the development of sustainability learning outcomes (SLO). The participants in the study were 13 instructors, and 360 students who were enrolled in 13 courses that addressed the environment in a…

Route to High Temperatures by Current Amplification in the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woodruff, S.; Holbomb, C. T.; Stallard, B. W.; Hill, D. N.; Hooper, E. B.; McLean, H. S.; Wood, R. D.; Bulmer, R.; Cohen, B.; Sovinec, C.; Pearlstein, L. D.

2002-01-01

For the spheromak to be attractive as a reactor concept it would be necessary to sustain the configuration with a low recycling power, reflected in the current amplification factor: A 1 = I tor /I gun , where I tor is the toroidal current and I gun is the gun current. It is understood that A 1 needs to be around 60 for a reactor [1], although the highest obtained so far in the spheromak has been ∼3 [2]. The spheromak is a simply connected toroidal confinement device related to the reversed field pinch in that the q-profile falls at the edge and the first wall is conducting, although the central solenoid is absent. In the spheromak, the paradigm for field generation (and hence current amplification) is the injection of helicity, K = ∫A.BdV = 2ΦΨ where φ and Ψ are linked fluxes. Helicity is additive in the process of electrostatic injection by a coaxial gun [3]: K = 2V gunΨgun , where V gun is the voltage applied between two coaxial electrodes (giving the rate of toroidal flux injection) and Ψ gun is the poloidal vacuum flux connecting them. SSPX [4] is a 1m wide coaxial-gun-driven spheromak with W-coated copper electrodes (FIGURE 1) and a uniquely programmable vacuum field configuration. SSPX was built to assess if confinement can be reasonably preserved during injection, and to address the specific physics of the processes governing helicity injection

Sustainable procurement for greener logistics in the Higher Education sector

OpenAIRE

McLeod, F.; Cherrett, T.; Bailey, G.; Allen, J.; Browne, M.; Leonardi, J.; Aditjandra, P.; Zunder, T.

2015-01-01

Purpose: Using the University of Southampton as a case study example, this paper reviews how procurement practices (i.e. purchasing of goods and services) of large organisations impact upon goods and service vehicle activity, with a view to investigating what approaches may be taken to reduce carbon footprint and improve environmental sustainability. The approaches considered included consolidation of suppliers, buyers (individuals and departments), orders and consignments. Research Approach:...

Problematising development in sustainability: epistemic justice ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper draws on the work of Wolfgang Sachs (1999) who asserts that the notion of sustainability has been consumed by development, presenting a view of sustainability which challenges the current and dominant economically driven hegemonic development discourse in which sustainability has become embedded.

Relative Sustainability of Natural Gas Assisted High-Octane Gasoline Blendstock Production from Biomass

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tan, Eric C [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Zhang, Yi Min [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Cai, Hao [Argonne National Laboratory

2017-11-01

Biomass-derived hydrocarbon fuel technologies are being developed and pursued for better economy, environment, and society benefits underpinning the sustainability of transportation energy. Increasing availability and affordability of natural gas (NG) in the US can play an important role in assisting renewable fuel technology development, primarily in terms of economic feasibility. When a biorefinery is co-processing NG with biomass, the current low cost of NG coupled with the higher NG carbon conversion efficiency potentially allow for cost competitiveness of the fuel while achieving a minimum GHG emission reduction of 50 percent or higher compared to petroleum fuel. This study evaluates the relative sustainability of the production of high-octane gasoline blendstock via indirect liquefaction (IDL) of biomass (and with NG co-feed) through methanol/dimethyl ether intermediates. The sustainability metrics considered in this study include minimum fuel selling price (MFSP), carbon conversion efficiency, life cycle GHG emissions, life cycle water consumption, fossil energy return on investment (EROI), GHG emission avoidance cost, and job creation. Co-processing NG can evidently improve the MFSP. Evaluation of the relative sustainability can shed light on the biomass-NG synergistic impacts and sustainability trade-offs associated with the IDL as high-octane gasoline blendstock production.

Goal Orientation, Deep Learning, and Sustainable Feedback in Higher Business Education

Science.gov (United States)

Geitz, Gerry; Brinke, Desirée Joosten-ten; Kirschner, Paul A.

2015-01-01

Relations between and changeability of goal orientation and learning behavior have been studied in several domains and contexts. To alter the adopted goal orientation into a mastery orientation and increase a concomitant deep learning in international business students, a sustainable feedback intervention study was carried out. Sustainable…

Sustainable Academia : Translating the Vision of a Fully Sustainable University into a Measurable Reality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maragakis, A.

2017-01-01

There is a growing public expectation that universities should start focusing on delivering sustainability. The topic of sustainability in higher education has gathered a significant amount of interest from students, academics, governments and international organizations.

With a plethora of

Current Approaches to the Assessment of Graphic Design in a Higher Education Context

Science.gov (United States)

Giloi, Susan; du Toit, Pieter

2013-01-01

This article provides an overview of the current trends in assessment practice within the field of graphic design. The demands placed on educators to apply sound assessment practice for Higher Education subjects is as intense in the field of graphic design as in any other. Forcing the assessment of creative visual work into existing assessment…

Current status of educational services in higher agricultural education in Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. S. Cobets’

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Perspective directions of integration state policy of Ukraine Higher Education  into the European educational space and steps of implementation are determined. It is analysed the current state of higher agricultural education and integration current state policy of Ukraine Higher Education into the European educational space which allowed to identify problems and highlighted areas for further development. It is considered that it is necessary to establish cooperation in the triangle «production ­ education – science», extend the impact of scientists and experts on the content of  educational sector, come educational standards to needs and challenges of the real economy, as upgrades of industry standards for higher education, forming curricula, new teaching methods. Professionals training is possible only in a simulation of modern production principles, including the European Union. It is necessary to strengthen the position of agricultural universities as international educational and scientific centers in the framework of the European educational space. This refers to the practice and teaching students abroad, teachers training, participation in international programs, joint research. Ukrainian agricultural education system has competitive advantages despite the general neglect and can be considered unique in the educational market, it has conditions for the creation and testing of innovative products for different agro­climatic zones within a region. This provides the results of knowledge­based real conditions of agricultural production. Among the weaknesses of the education system it is possible to note a lack of cooperation with employers, lack of logistical and information and communication resources, mismatch of modern innovative designs and high technologies. It is therefore necessary to overcome the gap between the content of education and the real needs of innovation economy. In general, you need to ensure long­term practice

Does the Gold Standard label hold its promise in delivering higher Sustainable Development benefits? A multi-criteria comparison of CDM projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drupp, Moritz A.

2011-01-01

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has a twin objective: to help developed countries reduce GHG emissions, and to support developing countries in achieving Sustainable Development (SD). As a response to the widespread criticism of the CDM's unsatisfactory SD record, initiatives have developed premium labels like the Gold Standard, which applies two additional 'screens' to filter CDM projects for higher SD benefits. In order to determine whether Gold Standard projects can be associated with higher local SD benefits, this paper evaluates the potential benefits of 48 CDM projects using a multi-criteria method and building on existing work. The 18 evaluated Gold Standard projects are compared to a 'representative portfolio' of 30 unlabeled CDM projects in order to capture the 'full' effect of the additional Gold Standard requirements, which is further decomposed into the two 'screen' effects. The results suggest that Gold Standard Certified Emission Reductions can be associated with higher potential local SD benefits when compared to the 'representative portfolio' of unlabeled CDM projects, while the comparison of projects of the same type remains inconclusive. The results support previous findings showing that renewable energy projects may deliver comparatively high SD benefits. - Research highlights: → This study evaluates and compares the potential contribution of unlabeled- and Gold Standard labeled CDM projects to Sustainable Development (SD), extending the previously assessed projects as well as the methodological approach. → Gold Standard labeled Certified Emission Reductions (CER) can be associated with higher potential SD benefits compared to unlabeled projects. → A decomposition analysis shows that the Gold Standard s SD surplus must be primarily attributed to the favorable contribution of renewable energy projects to SD. → Policy makers might thus shift incentives towards renewable energy projects and buyers of CERs may shift their offset

A worldwide perspective on energy, environment and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dincer, Ibrahim; Rosen, Marc A.

1998-01-01

Problems with energy supply and use are related not only to global warming, but also to such environmental concerns as air pollution, ozone depletion forest destruction and emission of radioactive substances. These issues must be taken into consideration simultaneously if humanity is to achieve a bright energy future with minimal environmental impacts. Much evidence exists which suggests that the future will be negatively impacted if humans keep degrading the environment. There is an intimate connection between energy, the environment and sustainable development. A society seeking sustainable development ideally must utilise only energy resources which cause no environmental impact (e.g. which release no emissions to the environment). However, since all energy resources lead to some environmental impact, it is reasonable to suggest that some (not all) of the concerns regarding the limitations imposed on sustainable development by environmental emissions and their negative impacts can be part overcome through increased energy efficiency. A strong relation clearly exists between energy efficiency and environmental impact since, for the same services or products, less resource utilisation and pollution is normally associated with higher efficiency processes. Anticipated patterns of future energy use and consequent environmental impact (Focusing on acid precipitation, stratospheric ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect) are comprehensively discussed in this paper. Also, some solutions to current environmental issues in terms of energy conservation and renewable energy technologies are identified and some theoretical and practical limitations on increased energy efficiency are explained. The relations between energy and sustainable development, and between the environment and sustainable development, are described, and in illustrative example is presented. Throughout the paper several issues relating to energy, environment and sustainable development are examined

Sustainability in Electricity Markets. Study for the Dutch Transition Platform on Sustainable Electricity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-12-01

The current energy system is not sustainable. This situation is liable to lead to serious and costly consequences in the long term. The two most important themes to be addressed are climate change and securing energy supplies, particularly in view of the increasing dependency on fossil fuels from geo-politically unstable regions. That is why the Dutch government has decided to strive for a transition towards a Sustainable Energy System. The aim of the energy transition is to transform the current energy system over the coming decades into a sustainable energy system. The participants in this Energy Transition have established six themes for achieving a sustainable energy economy within 50 years. Within these themes experiments are being conducted, experiments that ensure that the final aims become clearer and feasible. Market participants, scientific and civil organizations, and government agencies are taking the lead in each of the six themes: (a) Green raw materials; (b) Sustainable Mobility; (c) Chain Efficiency; (d) New Gas; (e) Sustainable Electricity; (f) Energy in the built environment. This document provides input for the theme on Sustainable Electricity. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs together with SenterNovem is preparing a Platform Renewable Electricity Supply. In this Platform representatives from different stakeholders are to take part. The platform is meant to stimulate concrete actions/initiatives towards sustainable electricity supply. SenterNovem has asked PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to make an international inventory of electricity market developments, with a focus on the impact for future sustainable electricity supply. The question which options for electricity generation are the most suitable for a sustainable electricity supply will be dealt with by KEMA (a Dutch research institute for the electric power industry)

Nr 257 - Opinion presented on the behalf of the Commission of sustainable development and land planning on the finance bill for 2013 (nr 235), Volumes 1-10, ecology, sustainable development and planning, regional policies, research and higher education

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krabal, Jacques; Sermier, Jean-Marie; Gaillard, Genevieve; Baupin, Denis; Pauvros, Remi; Benisti, Jacques Alain; Fromantin, Jean-Christophe; Calmette, Alain; Plisson, Philippe; Ginesy, Charles-Ange

2012-01-01

This huge document comprises ten volumes which present and discuss public programs (objectives, strategies, plans, and actions), public finances, economic activity data and evolutions, debates by commissions, and amendments on different issues. A first set of issues deals with ecology, sustainable development and planning: protection of the environment and risk prevention (volume 1), and then with sustainable development policies (vol. 2), landscapes, water, biodiversity, and geographic and cartographic information (vol. 3), ecological transition (vol. 4), road, railway and water transports (vol. 5), air transports (vol. 6), maritime affairs (vol. 7). The next volume addresses regional policies (vol. 8). The last parts concern research and higher education: research in the field of sustainable development (vol. 9) and in the fields of environments and resources (vol. 10)

Current perspectives of the environmental education for a sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jimenez M, Rainero

1997-01-01

In the summit of River 92 you concluded that the means but effective to consent to the sustainable development it is undoubtedly the education, social institution that involucres to the whole human, social fabric and the individual and collective conscience. It is not considered the education a permanent process restricted to the school or institutional spaces, it arrives to all the organizations of economic, political character, cultural in those that the human being plays and in the future of the society. The bases in that the dynamism of the environmental education is reoriented for the development sustainable watchword the aspect that as regards education and work is able to give him the enough impulse and character for the achievement of its ends: the construction of a planetary environmental culture

Sustainability and the UK’s Leading Retailers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Jones

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper provides a review of the sustainability commitments and achievements currently being publicly reported by the UK’s leading retailers and of the nature of the reporting process, and also offers some reflections on the ways these retailers are addressing and pursuing sustainability agendas. The paper begins with a short discussion of the characteristics of sustainability and draws its empirical material from the most recent information on sustainability posted on the top ten UK retailer’s corporate websites. The findings reveal that the top ten UK retailers’ sustainability commitments and achievements embrace a wide range of environmental, social and economic issues but that the reporting process has a number of weaknesses that undermine its transparency and integrity. More critically, the authors argue that these commitments are principally driven by the search for efficiency gains and that they are couched within existing business models centered on continuing growth. Thus, the leading UK retailers are, at best, currently pursuing a “weak” rather than a “strong” model of sustainability; in pursuing continuing growth, they are effectively ignoring the fact the current patterns of consumption may be unsustainable in the long term. The paper provides an accessible review of the sustainability agendas being pursued by the UK’s leading retailers and as such it will interest academics, students and practitioners interested in retailing and corporate sustainability.

Conceptualising sustainability assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pope, Jenny; Annandale, David; Morrison-Saunders, Angus

2004-01-01

Sustainability assessment is being increasingly viewed as an important tool to aid in the shift towards sustainability. However, this is a new and evolving concept and there remain very few examples of effective sustainability assessment processes implemented anywhere in the world. Sustainability assessment is often described as a process by which the implications of an initiative on sustainability are evaluated, where the initiative can be a proposed or existing policy, plan, programme, project, piece of legislation, or a current practice or activity. However, this generic definition covers a broad range of different processes, many of which have been described in the literature as 'sustainability assessment'. This article seeks to provide some clarification by reflecting on the different approaches described in the literature as being forms of sustainability assessment, and evaluating them in terms of their potential contributions to sustainability. Many of these are actually examples of 'integrated assessment', derived from environmental impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA), but which have been extended to incorporate social and economic considerations as well as environmental ones, reflecting a 'triple bottom line' (TBL) approach to sustainability. These integrated assessment processes typically either seek to minimise 'unsustainability', or to achieve TBL objectives. Both aims may, or may not, result in sustainable practice. We present an alternative conception of sustainability assessment, with the more ambitious aim of seeking to determine whether or not an initiative is actually sustainable. We term such processes 'assessment for sustainability'. 'Assessment for sustainability' firstly requires that the concept of sustainability be well-defined. The article compares TBL approaches and principles-based approaches to developing such sustainability criteria, concluding that the latter are more appropriate, since they avoid many

Developing a Sustainable Practical Model of Graduate Employability for Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Rufai, Ahmed Umar; Bakar, Ab Rahim Bin; Rashi, Abdullah Bin Mat

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to evolve a sustainable practical model of employability skills that is sure to capture relevant learning aspects of a particular occupational discipline to be used as framework for Undergraduate students to develop their employability potentials. The study was conducted in three Universities and Polytechnics each with…

Conceptual basis for the european sustainability footprint

OpenAIRE

PELLETIER NATHANIEL; MAAS Rob; GORALCZYK MALGORZATA; WOLF Marc-Andree

2012-01-01

Sustainability is central to the policy objectives of the European Commission (EC), but a widely accepted integrated sustainability assessment framework in support of policy analysis and development is currently lacking. Here, we describe the conceptual basis for the proposed European Sustainability Footprint (ESF) - an integrated sustainability assessment framework for establishing a baseline and tracking trends with respect to the sustainability of European production and consumption. This ...

The Role of Fashion vs. Style Orientation on Sustainable Fashion Consumption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gwozdz, Wencke; Gupta, Shipra; Gentry, Jim

2015-01-01

, the notion of style is one promising avenue. While fashion is ever changing, following trends, style evolves slowly and continues to remain stable over time, expressing consumers’ ways of life. Thus, the created planned obsolescence by fashion could be reduced by the notion of style. The aim of this study......Today, textile consumption is far from being sustainable with regard to production, purchase, maintenance, and disposal. The current fashion system is characterized by planned obsolescence, and environmental and social unsustainability. To resolve the tensions between sustainability and fashion...... is to investigate the potential of emphasizing style rather than fashion to enhance sustainability in fashion consumption. We suggest that as one ages, one tends to be less fashion-oriented. Further, higher style orientation enhances one’s ability to have more concern for the environment or knowledge about...

Sustained attention in skilled and novice martial arts athletes: a study of event-related potentials and current sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez-Lopez, Javier; Silva-Pereyra, Juan; Fernandez, Thalia

2016-01-01

Background. Research on sports has revealed that behavioral responses and event-related brain potentials (ERP) are better in expert than in novice athletes for sport-related tasks. Focused attention is essential for optimal athletic performance across different sports but mainly in combat disciplines. During combat, long periods of focused attention (i.e., sustained attention) are required for a good performance. Few investigations have reported effects of expertise on brain electrical activity and its neural generators during sport-unrelated attention tasks. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of expertise (i.e., skilled and novice martial arts athletes) analyzing the ERP during a sustained attention task (Continuous Performance Task; CPT) and the cortical three-dimensional distribution of current density, using the sLORETA technique. Methods. CPT consisted in an oddball-type paradigm presentation of five stimuli (different pointing arrows) where only one of them (an arrow pointing up right) required a motor response (i.e., target). CPT was administered to skilled and novice martial arts athletes while EEG were recorded. Amplitude ERP data from target and non-target stimuli were compared between groups. Subsequently, current source analysis for each ERP component was performed on each subject. sLORETA images were compared by condition and group using Statistical Non-Parametric Mapping analysis. Results. Skilled athletes showed significant amplitude differences between target and non-target conditions in early ERP components (P100 and P200) as opposed to the novice group; however, skilled athletes showed no significant effect of condition in N200 but novices did show a significant effect. Current source analysis showed greater differences in activations in skilled compared with novice athletes between conditions in the frontal (mainly in the Superior Frontal Gyrus and Medial Frontal Gyrus) and limbic (mainly in the Anterior Cingulate Gyrus) lobes

Delivering Sustainable Facilities Management in Danish Housing Estates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Susanne Balslev; Jensen, Jesper Ole; Jensen, Per Anker

2009-01-01

Housing plays a central role in sustainable development due to large resource consumption and as transition agent towards sustainable lifestyles. The aim is to evaluate current practice of housing administration in Denmark in order to evaluate if and how sustainable facilities management is suppo......Housing plays a central role in sustainable development due to large resource consumption and as transition agent towards sustainable lifestyles. The aim is to evaluate current practice of housing administration in Denmark in order to evaluate if and how sustainable facilities management...... is supporting social, economical and environmental sustainable development. Sustainable facility management (SFM) is as an 'umbrella' for various ways of reducing flows of energy, water and waste in the daily operation of the buildings, for instance by regular monitoring the consumption, by using 'green......-setting including the ownership of the building, the organisation of daily operation, the roles and relation between stakeholders are equally important in order to utilise the monitoring as a mean for transformation towards sustainable buildings and lifestyles....

Priority for sustainability. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-12-01

The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs (EZ) has been asked to realize priority in connection to the grid for sustainable production capacity. Currently there are waiting lists for connection of new production capacity to the grid in some areas, due to a shortage in transport capacity. The Dutch connection policy (first come, first serve) may possibly lead to delays in connecting sustainable production capacity, which is not desirable in view of the incentivisation of sustainability. EZ and TenneT have asked Booz Allen to examine the options for giving priority to sustainability (wind and CHP). Priority in connection applies only to new sustainable production capacity, but priority in transport also applies to existing sustainable production capacity. [mk] [nl

The Living Rainforest Sustainable Greenhouses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bot, G.P.A.; Zwart, de H.F.; Hansen, K.; Logan, A.; Witte Groenholland, H.

2008-01-01

The Living Rainforest (www.livingrainforest.org) is an educational charity that uses rainforest ecology as a metaphor for communicating general sustainability issues to the public. Its greenhouses and office buildings are to be renovated using the most sustainable methods currently available. This

The inner dimension of sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Horlings, L.G.

2015-01-01

Transformation to sustainability has been defined as the fundamental alteration of the nature of a system, once the current conditions become untenable or undesirable. Transformation requires a shift in people's values, referred to as the inner dimension of sustainability, or change from the

Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment: Evaluating Residential Development Sustainability in a Developing Country Context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tan Yigitcanlar

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Rapid urbanization, improved quality of life, and diversified lifestyle options have collectively led to an escalation in housing demand in our cities, where residential areas, as the largest portion of urban land use type, play a critical role in the formation of sustainable cities. To date there has been limited research to ascertain residential development layouts that provide a more sustainable urban outcome. This paper aims to evaluate and compare sustainability levels of residential types by focusing on their layouts. The paper scrutinizes three different development types in a developing country context—i.e., subdivision, piecemeal, and master-planned developments. This study develops a “Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment” tool and applies it to compare their sustainability levels in Ipoh, Malaysia. The analysis finds that the master-planned development, amongst the investigated case studies, possesses the potential to produce higher levels of sustainability outcomes. The results reveal insights and evidence for policymakers, planners, development agencies and researchers; advocate further studies on neighborhood-level sustainability analysis, and; emphasize the need for collective efforts and an effective process in achieving neighborhood sustainability and sustainable city formation.

Sustained currents in coupled diffusive systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larralde, Hernán; Sanders, David P

2014-01-01

Coupling two diffusive systems may give rise to a nonequilibrium stationary state (NESS) with a non-trivial persistent, circulating current. We study a simple example that is exactly soluble, consisting of random walkers with different biases towards a reflecting boundary, modelling, for example, Brownian particles with different charge states in an electric field. We obtain analytical expressions for the concentrations and currents in the NESS for this model, and exhibit the main features of the system by numerical simulation. (paper)

Is light water reactor technology sustainable?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rothwell, G.; Van der Zwaan, B.

2001-01-01

This paper proposes criteria for determining ''intermediate sustainability'' over a 500-year horizon. We apply these criteria to Light Water Reactor (LWR) technology and the LWR industry. We conclude that LWR technology does not violate intermediate sustainability criteria for (1) environmental externalities, (2) worker and public health and safety, or (3) accidental radioactive release. However, it does not meet criteria to (1) efficiently use depleted uranium and (2) avoid uranium enrichment technologies that can lead to nuclear weapons proliferation. Finally, current and future global demand for LWR technology might be below the minimum needed to sustain the current global LWR industry. (author)

Analysis of sustainability metrics and application to the catalytic production of higher alcohols from ethanol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Patel, A.D.; Telalovic, S.; Bitter, J.H.; Worrell, E.; Patel, M.K.

2015-01-01

Use of sustainability metrics can help channel chemical research toward important long-term societal goals. For effective outcomes, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the sustainability assessment methods that can be applied in the chemical process development chain. In

Analysis of sustainability metrics and application to the catalytic production of higher alcohols from ethanol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Patel, Akshay D.; Telalović, Selvedin; Bitter, Johannes H.; Worrell, Ernst; Patel, Martin K.

2015-01-01

Use of sustainability metrics can help channel chemical research toward important long-term societalgoals. For effective outcomes, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the sustaina-bility assessment methods that can be applied in the chemical process development chain. In

Road safety in a globalised and more sustainable world: current issues and future challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, Stijn; Risser, Ralf

2014-01-01

Although many countries have had considerable success in reducing traffic injuries over recent decades, there are still some fundamental problems in this area. At the same time, there is increasing focus on road safety research and policy development in the context of globalisation, sustainability, liveability and health. This special section presents a selection of papers that were presented at the annual ICTCT workshop held on the 8th and 9th of November 2012 in Hasselt, Belgium, and accepted for publication in Accident Analysis and Prevention following the journal's reviewing procedure. The aim of the ICTCT workshop was to analyse road safety facts, data and visions for the future in the wider context of current issues and future challenges in road safety. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards a sustainable use of primary boron. Approach to a sustainable use of primary resources

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Henckens, M.L.C.M.; Driessen, P.P.J.; Worrell, E.

2015-01-01

The sustainable use of raw materials does not only concern the environmental impacts of their production and consumption, but also the intergenerational distribution of access to the raw material or the services provided by that material. From this sustainability perspective, current generations

Participatory processes and institutional debate activities as key complementary aspects for embedding sustainability in higher education

OpenAIRE

Esteban, F.; Ferrer Balas, Dídac; Barceló García, Miquel

2008-01-01

Introducing sustainable development into educational programs of universities tend to be approached under two complementary strategies: “top-down” and “bottom-up”. Top-down strategies promote the adaptation of the institutional framework to the new challenges that sustainable development generates into technical expertise areas. Bottom-up strategies focus on institutional activities oriented to convincing or supporting lecturers in integrating sustainable development in their d...

Individual and Social Requirement Aspects of Sustainable eLearning Systems

OpenAIRE

Alharthi, Ahmed D.; Spichkova, Maria

2017-01-01

Internationalization of the higher education has created the so-called borderless university, which provides better opportunities for learning and increases the human and social sustainability. eLearning systems are a special kind of software systems, developed to provide a platform for accessible teaching and learning, including also online access to learning materials and online support for learning and teaching. The aim of our current work is to extract, analyse, and combine the results fr...

Sustainability Metrics of a Small Scale Turbojet Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Ekici, Selcuk; Sohret, Yasin; Coban, Kahraman; Altuntas, Onder; Karakoc, T. Hikmet

2018-05-01

Over the last decade, sustainable energy consumption has attracted the attention of scientists and researchers. The current paper presents sustainability indicators of a small scale turbojet engine, operated on micro-aerial vehicles, for discussion of the sustainable development of the aviation industry from a different perspective. Experimental data was obtained from an engine at full power load and utilized to conduct an exergy-based sustainability analysis. Exergy efficiency, waste exergy ratio, recoverable exergy ratio, environmental effect factor, exergy destruction factor and exergetic sustainability index are evaluated as exergetic sustainability indicators of the turbojet engine under investigation in the current study. The exergy efficiency of the small scale turbojet engine is calculated as 27.25 % whereas the waste exergy ratio, the exergy destruction factor and the sustainability index of the engine are found to be 0.9756, 0.5466 and 0.2793, respectively.

Sustainability Assessment Using a Unit-based Sustainability ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

need to balance economic growth and social progress with environmental concerns ... They play a special role in seeking solutions to societal ... development, and also helps to establish the current status of sustainability work in progress. .... departments, units and/or facets of university life (e.g. student activities or estates ...

A review of Dutch corporate sustainable development reports

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Asif, Muhammad; Searcy, C.; dos Santos, Paulo; Kensah, D.K.

2013-01-01

There is increasing pressure on corporations for sustainability reporting. However, current patterns in corporate sustainability reporting are not well understood. Additional research is needed to identify the contents of current reports and to provide a basis for improvement. The aim of this

Sustainability evaluation of automatic and conventional milking systems on organic dairy farms in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oudshoorn, Frank W; Kristensen, Troels; van der Zijpp, A J

2012-01-01

Organic dairy farmers in Denmark currently are implementing automatic milking systems (AMS) to save labour costs. As organic agriculture aims at sustainable production, the introduction of a new technology such as AMS should be evaluated regarding its economic viability, environmental impact...... conventional milking systems (CMS). Sustainability indicators were quantified for economic performance of the farm, on-farm eutrophication, on-farm biodiversity, animal welfare (including health), grazing time, milk composition and labour time. Milk yield per cow per year was higher for AMS farms (9021 kg...... was not due to the use of AMS but was caused by a higher export of manure by the CMS farms. The number of veterinary treatments per cow per year was unaffected by AMS use, but culling rate was higher for the AMS farms (38%) than for the CMS farms (32%). There was no difference between the AMS and CMS farms...

Sustaining Participatory Design Initiatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iversen, Ole Sejer; Dindler, Christian

2014-01-01

While many participatory design (PD) projects succeed in establishing new organisational initiatives or creating technology that is attuned to the people affected, the issue of how such results are sustained after the project ends remains an important challenge. We explore the challenge...... these various forms of sustainability may be pursued in PD practice and how they can become a resource in reflecting on PD activities. Finally, we discuss implications for PD practice, suggesting that a nuanced conception of sustainability and how it may relate to PD practice are useful resources for designers...... of sustaining PD initiatives beyond the individual project and discuss implications for PD practice. First, based on current PD literature, we distinguish between four ideal typical forms of sustainability: maintaining, scaling, replicating and evolving. Second, we demonstrate from a case study how...

Sustaining the Higher Education Hub Model: The Challenge of Adequate Academic and Social Support Structures for International Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cameron Richards

2011-11-01

Full Text Available In recent years, the Education Hub (EH concept has perhaps become the single most important focus of higher education policy in most Asian countries. A particular Asian Education Hub model (e.g. Cheng, 2010 is now globally influential with its emphasis on how governments can harness direct as well as indirect economic benefits of a higher education system. Such a model aims to prepare students for employment in an emerging global economy and also to attract fee-paying international students in terms of education as not just a public good but a key and increasingly important area of national investment and economic development. In a related paper which focused on a comparison between distinct Malaysian and Singaporean versions of Asian EH l models developed over the last two decades (Richards, 2011c, we investigated the dangers as well as opportunities at stake. In this paper, we investigate the linked idea that sufficient academic and social support structures for supporting international as well as local students provide the crucial key to the factors of sustainability needed to support the various versions of the general strategy of Higher Education internationalisation.

The added value of sustainability motivations in understanding sustainable food choices

OpenAIRE

Verain, M.C.D.; Onwezen, M.C.; Sijtsema, S.J.; Dagevos, H.

2016-01-01

Understanding consumer food choices is crucial to stimulate sustainable food consumption. Food choice motives are shown to be relevant in understanding consumer food choices. However, there is a focus on product motives, such as price and taste, whereas process motives (i.e. environmental welfare) are understudied. The current study aims to add to the existing literature by investigating the added value of sustainable process motives (environmental welfare, animal welfare and social justice) ...

From the sugarcane ethanol sustainability that we have to the sugarcane ethanol sustainability that we should have

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cortez, Luis Augusto B.

2012-07-01

There is much debate about what we understand about sustainability of bio fuels. This debate is not always constructive for those concerned about establishing sustainable bio fuels production. In practical terms, what, what should we do concerning sustainability of fuels? What are important issues on which we should concentrate our efforts, and how can we improve the current situation?.

Lean maturity, lean sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Frances; Matthiesen, Rikke; Nielsen, Jacob

2007-01-01

. A framework for describing levels of lean capability is presented, based on a brief review of the literature and experiences from 12 Danish companies currently implementing lean. Although still in its emerging phase, the framework contributes to both theory and practice by describing developmental stages......Although lean is rapidly growing in popularity, its implementation is far from problem free and companies may experience difficulties sustaining long term success. In this paper, it is suggested that sustainable lean requires attention to both performance improvement and capability development...... that support lean capability development and consequently, lean sustainability....

Sustainability considerations for integrated biorefineries.

Science.gov (United States)

Azapagic, Adisa

2014-01-01

Integrated biorefineries have the potential to contribute towards sustainable production of transportation fuels, energy, and chemicals. However, because there are currently no commercial biorefining plants in operation, it is not clear how sustainable they really are. This paper sets out to examine key issues associated with biorefining that should be considered carefully along the whole supply chain to ensure sustainable development of the sector. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Is light water reactor technology sustainable?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rothwell, G. [Stanford Univ., Dept. of Economics, CA (United States); Van der Zwaan, B. [Vrije Univ., Amsterdam, Inst. for Environmental Studies (Netherlands)

2001-07-01

This paper proposes criteria for determining ''intermediate sustainability'' over a 500-year horizon. We apply these criteria to Light Water Reactor (LWR) technology and the LWR industry. We conclude that LWR technology does not violate intermediate sustainability criteria for (1) environmental externalities, (2) worker and public health and safety, or (3) accidental radioactive release. However, it does not meet criteria to (1) efficiently use depleted uranium and (2) avoid uranium enrichment technologies that can lead to nuclear weapons proliferation. Finally, current and future global demand for LWR technology might be below the minimum needed to sustain the current global LWR industry. (author)

Corporate Sustainability Management and Environmental Ethics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schuler, Douglas; Rasche, Andreas; Etzion, Dror

2017-01-01

This article reviews four key orientations in environmental ethics that range from an instrumental understanding of sustainability to one that acknowledges the intrinsic value of sustainable behavior (i.e., sustainable resource use, conservation and preservation, rights-based perspectives, and deep...... ecology). It then shows that the current scholarly discourse around corporate sustainability management—as reflected in environment management (EM), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and corporate political activity (CPA)—mostly favors an instrumental perspective on sustainability. Sustainable...... business practices are viewed as anthropocentric and are conceptualized as a means to achieve competitive advantage. Based on these observations, we speculate about what corporate sustainability management might look like if it applied ethical orientations that emphasize the intrinsic value of nature...

A Sustainability Education Academic Development Framework (SEAD)

Science.gov (United States)

Holdsworth, Sarah; Thomas, Ian

2016-01-01

Academic development is one means of reorientating education within higher education (HE) to include sustainability principles. This paper identifies the requirements of academic development programmes that will provide educators with the skills to engage students in the ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. In order to determine…

Sustainable Procurement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Telles, Pedro; Ølykke, Grith Skovgaard

2017-01-01

and within it how sustainable requirements have increased the level of compliance required, particularly regulatory compliance. Compliance was already present in previous EU public procurement frameworks, but its extent on Directive 2014/24/EU leads the authors to consider the current legal framework...

Industrial training approach using GPM P5 Standard for Sustainability in Project Management: a framework for sustainability competencies in the 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Johan, Kartina; Mohd Turan, Faiz

2016-11-01

Malaysian Engineering Accreditation (Engineering Programme Accreditation Manual, 2007) requires all bachelor degree in engineering programmes to incorporate a minimum of two months industrial training in order for the programme to be accredited by the council. The industrial training has the objective to provide students on the insights of being an engineer at the workplace hence increasing their knowledge in employability skills prior to graduation. However the current structure of industrial training is not able to inculcate good leadership ability and prepare students with sustainability competencies needed in the era of Sustainable Development (SD). This paper aims to study project management methodology as a framework to create a training pathway in industrial training for students in engineering programs using Green Project Management (GPM) P5 standard for sustainability in project management. The framework involves students as interns, supervisors from both university and industry and also participation from NonProfit Organisation (NPO). The framework focus on the development of the student's competency in employability skills, lean leadership and sustainability competencies using experiential learning approach. Deliverables of the framework include internship report, professional sustainability report using GPM P5 standard and competency assessment. The post-industrial phase of the framework is constructed for students to be assessed collaboratively by the university, industry and the sustainability practitioner in the country. The ability for the interns to act as a change agent in sustainability practices is measured by the competency assessment and the quality of the sustainability report. The framework support the call for developing holistic students based on Malaysian Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025 and address the gap between the statuses of engineering qualification to the sustainability competencies in the 21st century in

Examining sustainability in a hospital setting: case of smoking cessation.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Sharon; Pieters, Karen; Mullen, Kerri-Anne; Reece, Robin; Reid, Robert D

2011-09-14

The Ottawa Model of Smoking Cessation (OMSC) is a hospital-based smoking cessation program that is expanding across Canada. While the short-term effectiveness of hospital cessation programs has been documented, less is known about long-term sustainability. The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand how hospitals using the OMSC were addressing sustainability and determine if there were critical factors or issues that should be addressed as the program expanded. Six hospitals that differed on OMSC program activities (identify and document smokers, advise quitting, provide medication, and offer follow-up) were intentionally selected, and two key informants per hospital were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Key informants were asked to reflect on the initial decision to implement the OMSC, the current implementation process, and perceived sustainability of the program. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted and themes related to problem definition, stakeholder influence, and program features emerged. Sustainability was operationalized as higher performance of OMSC activities than at baseline. Factors identified in the literature as important for sustainability, such as program design, differences in implementation, organizational characteristics, and the community environment did not explain differences in program sustainability. Instead, key informants identified factors that reflected the interaction between how the health problem was defined by stakeholders, how priorities and concerns were addressed, features of the program itself, and fit within the hospital context and resources as being influential to the sustainability of the program. Applying a sustainability model to a hospital smoking cessation program allowed for an examination of how decisions made during implementation may impact sustainability. Examining these factors during implementation may provide insight into issues affecting program

Organizational resilience: Sustained institutional effectiveness among smaller, private, non-profit US higher education institutions experiencing organizational decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Kenneth A

2016-06-04

analysis was used to examine the direct and interaction effects between organizational decline, organizational rigidity response, organizational resilience response, and institutional effectiveness, controlling for age of institution and level of endowment. The study validated previous threat-rigidity response findings that organizational decline alone does not adversely impact institutional effectiveness. The direct effect of Goal-Directed Solution Seeking and Role Dependency organizational resilience factors had a positive, significant correlation with the Student Personal Development institutional effectiveness factor. The interactive effect of Goal-Directed Solution Seeking organizational resilience factor during organizational decline had a positive, significant correlation with the Professional Development and Quality of Faculty institutional effectiveness factor. The interactive effect of Avoidance during organizational decline had a positive, significant correlation with the Faculty and Administrator Employment Satisfaction institutional effectiveness factor. The interactive effect of Diminished Innovation, Morale, and Leader Credibility rigidity response factor and Avoidance organizational resilience factor during organizational decline had a positive, significant correlation with the Professional Development and Quality of Faculty institutional effectiveness factor. Lastly, the interactive effect of Increased Scapegoating of Leaders, Interest group Activities, and Conflict rigidity response factor and Avoidance organizational resilience factor during organizational decline had a positive, significant correlation with the Faculty and Administrator Employment Satisfaction institutional effectiveness factor. Factors of organizational resilience were found to have a positive effect among smaller, private non-profit higher educational institutions associated with this study toward sustaining institutional effectiveness during organizational decline. Specifically, the

The Role of Institutions of Higher Education in Sustainability: The Comprehensive, Public, Land-Grant University

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick J. Pellicane

2006-01-01

This paper introduces a background discussion of the importance of sustainability in the 21st century, the issues surrounding how we learn, the role of science, and the importance of interdisciplinarity with respect to ecological and socio-economic sustainability. Furthermore, background information is provided about the history and origins of the American public, land...

Modelling the transport system in China and evaluating the current strategies towards the sustainable transport development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Wen; Lund, Henrik; Mathiesen, Brian Vad

2013-01-01

Transport is one of the most challenge sectors when addressing energy security and climate change due to its high reliance on oil products and lack of the alternative fuels. This paper explores the ability of three transport strategies to contribute to the development of a sustainable transport in China. With this purpose in mind, a Chinese transport model has been created and three current transport strategies which are high speed railway (HSR), urban rail transit (URT) and electric vehicle (EV) were evaluated together with a reference transport system in 2020. As conservative results, 13% of the energy saving and 12% of the CO 2 emission reduction can be attained by accomplishing three strategies compared with the reference transport system. However, the energy demand of transport in 2020 with the implementation of three strategies will be about 1.7 times as much as today. The three strategies show the potential of drawing the transport demand to the more energy efficient vehicles; however, more initiatives are needed if the sustainable transport is the long term objective, such as the solutions to stabilise the private vehicle demands, to continuously improve the vehicle efficiency and to boost the alternative fuels produced from the renewable energy sources. - Highlights: • A Chinese transport model was created and three transport strategies were evaluated • Transport is the biggest driver of the oil demand in China not the industry • The energy demand of transport in 2020 will be twice as much as today • Strategies contribute 13% energy saving and 12% CO 2 emission reduction • More initiatives are needed if a sustainable transport is the long-term objective

Managing Transportation Infrastructure for Sustainable Development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Akinyemi, Edward O.; Zuidgeest, M.H.P.

Major requirements for operationalization of the concept of sustainable development in urban transportation infrastructure operations management are presented. In addition, it is shown that the current approach to management is incompatible with the requirements for sustainable urban development.

Evaluating Sustainability Education: Lessons from International Development Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Koehn, Peter H.; Uitto, Juha I.

2014-01-01

Since the mid 1970s, a series of international declarations that recognize the critical link between environmental sustainability and higher education have been endorsed and signed by universities around the world. While academic initiatives in sustainability are blossoming, higher education lacks a comprehensive evaluation framework that is…

Steady equilibrium of a cylindrically symmetric plasma sustained by fueling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomita, Yukihiro; Momota, Hiromu

1993-01-01

By introducing a novel and natural method to obtain a steady equilibrium, it is shown that a pressure gradient produced by the particle injection or resultant diamagnetic current can sustain only an equilibrium of a diffused linear pinch. For an extremely elongated FRC where magnetic field vanishes at a certain point, a seed current is needed to sustain configuration in a steady state equilibrium. A directed flow of fusion produced protons forms a seed current and consequently it sustains a steady FRC equilibrium by fueling only once D- 3 He burning takes place. Effects of anomalous transports on the sustainment are discussed. (author)

Sustainability at BPA 2013

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2013-12-01

THIS IS THE THIRD YEAR BPA has reported on sustainability program accomplishments. The report provides an opportunity to review progress made on sustainability initiatives, evaluate how far we have come and how much we can improve. The program has demonstrated maturation as the concepts of sustainability and resource conservation are communicated and understood. The sustainability program started as an employee-driven “grass roots” effort in 2010. Sustainability is becoming a consideration in how work is performed. The establishment of several policies supporting sustainability efforts proves the positive progress being made. In 2009, BPA became a founder and member of The Climate Registry, a nonprofit collaboration that sets standards to calculate, verify and report greenhouse gas emissions. This year, BPA completed and published our Greenhouse Gas inventory for the years of 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 2012 inventory is currently in the process of third-party verification and scheduled for public release in January 2014. These inventories provide a concrete measure of the progress we are making.

The CIRRUS apprach towards "Integration of sustainable development in higher technical education"

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dr. ir. Jan Venselaar

2003-01-01

Real sustainable development involves a drastic reduction in environmental ánd social effects compared to our present ways of satisfying our needs. A system approach is asked for, taking into account total chains for resource use and production, paying attention to cultural and socio-economic

The Engagement of Students in Higher Education Institutions with the Concepts of Sustainability: A Case Study of the University of Northampton, in England

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leo Cleverdon

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Across higher education institutions there has, for some time, been a growing move towards incorporation of the concepts of sustainability into the policies and practices of the organisations. Using the University of Northampton, in the United Kingdom as a case study, this project aimed to understand the efficacy of student engagement with a sustainability project called Planet Too. The study employed a range of methods including waste and energy audits, as well as questionnaire surveys both with students and landlords to examine their environmental attitudes, beliefs, and practices. The project was able to lead to increased awareness and engagement with the concepts of sustainability amongst the students. Recycling, though it was not one of the initiatives focused upon, was a key practice mentioned by both students and landlords. The engagement of the landlords was focused primarily on conservation of energy and water. However, conservation practices generally remained static, with limited significant or long-term changes in environmental practices. The key implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations suggested.

Developing Sustainable Life Support System Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Evan A.

2010-01-01

Sustainable spacecraft life support concepts may allow the development of more reliable technologies for long duration space missions. Currently, life support technologies at different levels of development are not well evaluated against each other, and evaluation methods do not account for long term reliability and sustainability of the hardware. This paper presents point-of-departure sustainability evaluation criteria for life support systems, that may allow more robust technology development, testing and comparison. An example sustainable water recovery system concept is presented.

ANALISIS PENGUNGKAPAN SUSTAINABILITY REPORT PADA PERUSAHAAN NON-KEUANGAN TAHUN 2009-2013

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Candri Puspita Marwati

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji dan menganalisis pengaruh return on asset (ROA, likuiditas (current ratio, ukuran perusahaan (size, earning per share (EPS terhadap pengungkapan sustainability report. Sampel yang digunakan adalah perusahaan non-keuangan terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI yang menerbitkan sustainability report sesuai standar GRI pada periode 2009-2013 dan diperoleh 12 perusahaan. Teknik analisis data menggunakan uji asumsi klasik: normalitas, multikolinearitas, autokorelasi dan heterokedastisitas. Uji hipotesis menggunakan analisis regresi berganda. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ROA berpengaruh positif signifikan terhadap sustainability report, current ratio tidak mempengaruhi sustainability report, size memiliki pengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap sustainability report, dan EPS memiliki pengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap sustainability report.This study aims to examine and analyze the effect of return on assets (ROA, liquidity (current ratio, firm size (size, earnings per share (EPS on the disclosure of sustainability report. Sample are corporate non-financial listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX and publishes a sustainability report according to GRI standard in the period 2009-2013 and obtained sample of 12 companies. Data were analyzed using classic assumption test: normality, multicollinearity, autocorrelation and heterokedastisitas. Hypothesis testing using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that, ROA significant positive effect on sustainability report. current ratio does not affect the sustainability report. size has a negative and significant impact on the sustainability report, and EPS has a negative and significant impact on the sustainability report.

Industrialized Higher Education and Its Sustainable Alternatives

Science.gov (United States)

Ostenson, Joseph A.; Clegg, Joshua W.; Wiggins, Bradford J.

2017-01-01

We argue that academic life is increasingly giving way to forces of industrialization and that many of the problems confronting higher education arise within this transformation. We discuss how a culture of standardization has led to academic monocultures; how faculty autonomy has been subverted by topdown management structures; how locally based…

Sustainability performance evaluation: Literature review and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Büyüközkan, Gülçin; Karabulut, Yağmur

2018-07-01

Current global economic activities are increasingly being perceived as unsustainable. Despite the high number of publications, sustainability science remains highly dispersed over diverse approaches and topics. This article aims to provide a structured overview of sustainability performance evaluation related publications and to document the current state of literature, categorize publications, analyze and link trends, as well as highlight gaps and provide research recommendations. 128 articles between 2007 and 2018 are identified. The results suggest that sustainability performance evaluation models shall be more balanced, suitable criteria and their interrelations shall be well defined and subjectivity of qualitative criteria inherent to sustainability indicators shall be considered. To address this subjectivity, group decision-making techniques and other analytical methods that can deal with uncertainty, conflicting indicators, and linguistic evaluations can be used in future works. By presenting research gaps, this review stimulates researchers to establish practically applicable sustainability performance evaluation frameworks to help assess and compare the degree of sustainability, leading to more sustainable business practices. The review is unique in defining corporate sustainability performance evaluation for the first time, exploring the gap between sustainability accounting and sustainability assessment, and coming up with a structured overview of innovative research recommendations about integrating analytical assessment methods into conceptual sustainability frameworks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring post-secondary stem majors' engagement in sustainability: The creation, assessment, and validation of an instrument for sustainability curricula evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Little, David L., II

Ongoing changes in values, pedagogy, and curriculum concerning sustainability education necessitate that strong curricular elements are identified in sustainability education. However, quantitative research in sustainability education is largely undeveloped or relies on outdated instruments. In part, this is because no widespread quantitative instrument for measuring related educational outcomes has been developed for the field, though their development is pivotal for future efforts in sustainability education related to STEM majors. This research study details the creation, evaluation, and validation of an instrument -- the STEM Sustainability Engagement Instrument (STEMSEI) -- designed to measure sustainability engagement in post-secondary STEM majors. The study was conducted in three phases, using qualitative methods in phase 1, a concurrent mixed methods design in phase 2, and a sequential mixed methods design in phase 3. The STEMSEI was able to successfully predict statistically significant differences in the sample (n= 1017) that were predicted by prior research in environmental education. The STEMSEI also revealed statistically significant differences between STEM majors' sustainability engagement with a large effect size (.203 ≤ eta2 ≤ .211). As hypothesized, statistically significant differences were found on the environmental scales across gender and present religion. With respect to gender, self-perceived measures of emotional engagement with environmental sustainability was higher with females while males had higher measures in cognitive engagement with respect to knowing information related to environmental sustainability. With respect to present religion, self-perceived measures of general engagement and emotional engagement in environmental sustainability were higher for non-Christians as compared to Christians. On the economic scales, statistically significant differences were found across gender. Specifically, measures of males' self

Building the Sustainable Library at Macquarie University

Science.gov (United States)

Brodie, Maxine

2012-01-01

This article explores a number of current issues and challenges in sustainability, both of and in academic libraries of the future, using as a case study the new library opened at Macquarie University, Sydney in 2011. Issues covered include sustainable design and operation of library buildings, sustainability in relation to library collections,…

Role of Institutions of Higher Learning in Enhancing Sustainable Development in Kenya

Science.gov (United States)

Ekene, Osuji Gregory; Oluoch-Suleh, Everlyn

2015-01-01

Education brings about a change in the individual which promotes greater productivity and work efficiency. It remains a major component in the development of human resources and it accounts for much improvements in population quality and environmental resource management; hence, sustainable development. Improvement of human resources is not…

Sustainable Development of Geothermal Industry in China: An Overview

OpenAIRE

Xu Bang; Li Menggang; Pi Xiyu

2016-01-01

With a wide distribution, large reserves, low cost, sustainable energy use and environmental protection and other unparalleled advantages, geothermal energy resources is important for China’s energy structure adjustment, energy conservation and environment improvement. Currently, geothermal utilization in China is still in its infancy, and Sustainable Development of the geothermal industry is also having a lot of problems. In this paper, the current research on sustainable development of geot...

Venezuela's Economic Recovery: Is It Sustainable?

OpenAIRE

Jake Johnston; Mark Weisbrot

2012-01-01

Venezuela’s current growth is generally described as unsustainable, with various negative scenarios put forth, including spiraling debt, inflation, and balance of payments crises. However, these pessimistic forecasts have been far off the mark for most of the past decade. This paper looks at the available economic data to see if Venezuela’s economic recovery could be sustained, or even accelerated. It finds that Venezuela’s current economic growth is sustainable and could continue at the curr...

Higher order equivalent edge currents for fringe wave radar scattering by perfectly conducting polygonal plates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Breinbjerg, Olav

1992-01-01

An approach for including higher order edge diffraction in the equivalent edge current (EEC) method is proposed. This approach, which applies to monostatic as well as bistatic radar configurations with perfectly conducting polygonal plates, involves three distinct sets of EECs. All of these sets...

Critical reflections on the currently leading definition of sustainable employability.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleuren, Bram Bi; de Grip, Andries; Jansen, Nicole Wh; Kant, Imjert; Zijlstra, Fred Rh

2016-06-01

claims can be made, such relationships need to be tested with SE as criterion. This is, however, impossible within the approach van der Klink et al provides. (1), as SE is equated with its predictor(s). Therefore, similar to the first conceptual issue, it seems unlikely that the capability set adequately reflects SE. Fourth, the definition by van der Klink et al (1) suggests that SE only applies to individuals who are employed. In the Abma et al publication (9), which accompanies van der Klink's definition paper as a validation paper, this is shown by the way in which capabilities are measured. Moreover, the definition also suggests this because individuals can only be considered to be sustainably employable if their work context enables them to achieve tangible opportunities. However, individuals who are not currently working can still be highly employable and even sustainably so, but just be between jobs. It is therefore not required for individuals to be enabled by their employer to be sustainably employable. Consequently, in line with our aforementioned points on improving the definition, being enabled by an employer to achieve value may be an important predictor of SE, but it is not necessarily part of SE itself. Moreover, future approaches to SE should define the concept in such a way that it is applicable to every individual regardless of employment status. Finally, the definition and operationalization of SE in the form of a capability set do not include any specification on how the longitudinal aspect of SE should be captured. The definition rightfully acknowledges the longitudinal dimension of SE, but its operationalization focuses solely on achieving value. Although achieving value at work may be an important predictor of SE, a complete operationalization and definition should include its longitudinal nature as well. Outlook In conclusion, while van der Klink et al's definition of SE (1) does have strong merits, it requires further improvement. The approach

Current energy usage and sustainable energy in Kazakhstan: A review

Science.gov (United States)

Karatayev, Marat; Islam, Tofazzal; Salnikov, Vitaliy

2014-05-01

Kazakhstan has abundant natural resources. The country has enough coal to supply its energy needs for the next 150 years, and has the world's largest deposits of uranium, substantial quantities of natural gas and petroleum deposits. However, despite such energy riches, due to the size of the territory, its geography, and the country's economic structure, distribution of electricity in Kazakhstan is not uniform. As a result, Kazakhstani rural and remote areas suffer from serious electricity deficits. According to the latest estimates from the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, about 25-30% of the Kazakhstani population lives in rural communities, where access to affordable energy (for heating, cooling, cooking, refrigeration, lighting, household as well as IT use) is limited. Furthermore, with the main electricity production infrastructure concentrated in the main urban areas, a high amount of electricity is therefore lost during transmission. Moreover, the consumption of poor quality coal as the main source of power generation creates a significant amount of environmental pollution. To illustrate this development, fuel combustion from coal has produced around 75% of carbon dioxide emissions in Kazakhstan. Thus, in order to address the country's electricity and environmental challenges, the Kazakhstani government is taking initiatives to promote renewable energy resources. However, so far, the outcome of these initiatives remains negligible. The current contribution of renewable energy to the total energy consumption is less than 1% (with 90% provided by hydropower) despite the significant potential for renewable energy in the country. As yet, no comprehensive study has been published on the energy scenario and on the potential for renewable energy resources in Kazakhstan. This comprehensive review aims to present an overview of the country's energy resources, supply and demand as the current energy scenario, while discussing the potential for renewable

The Equity Challenge in China's Higher Education Finance Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Fengshou; Barrientos, Armando

2009-01-01

Sustaining China's rapid economic growth in the future will come to depend in large part on the quantity and quality of the human resources it can mobilize. The paper considers the prospects for higher education financing, and highlights the importance of improving equity in access to higher education as a precondition for a sustainable expansion…

An Overview of Management Education for Sustainability in Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yen-Chun Jim; Shen, Ju-Peng; Kuo, Tsuang

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the holistic picture of sustainability curricula in Asian higher education. Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis was conducted based on Asian management education for sustainability in higher education. Online courses arrangement, teaching methods, instructors' educational background and…

Animal Board Invited Review: Comparing conventional and organic livestock production systems on different aspects of sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

van Wagenberg, C P A; de Haas, Y; Hogeveen, H; van Krimpen, M M; Meuwissen, M P M; van Middelaar, C E; Rodenburg, T B

2017-10-01

To sustainably contribute to food security of a growing and richer world population, livestock production systems are challenged to increase production levels while reducing environmental impact, being economically viable, and socially responsible. Knowledge about the sustainability performance of current livestock production systems may help to formulate strategies for future systems. Our study provides a systematic overview of differences between conventional and organic livestock production systems on a broad range of sustainability aspects and animal species available in peer-reviewed literature. Systems were compared on economy, productivity, environmental impact, animal welfare and public health. The review was limited to dairy cattle, beef cattle, pigs, broilers and laying hens, and to Europe, North America and New Zealand. Results per indicators are presented as in the articles without performing additional calculations. Out of 4171 initial search hits, 179 articles were analysed. Studies varied widely in indicators, research design, sample size and location and context. Quite some studies used small samples. No study analysed all aspects of sustainability simultaneously. Conventional systems had lower labour requirements per unit product, lower income risk per animal, higher production per animal per time unit, higher reproduction numbers, lower feed conversion ratio, lower land use, generally lower acidification and eutrophication potential per unit product, equal or better udder health for cows and equal or lower microbiological contamination. Organic systems had higher income per animal or full time employee, lower impact on biodiversity, lower eutrophication and acidification potential per unit land, equal or lower likelihood of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and higher beneficial fatty acid levels in cow milk. For most sustainability aspects, sometimes conventional and sometimes organic systems performed better, except for productivity, which was

Sustainable materials for low carbon buildings

OpenAIRE

B.V. Venkatarama Reddy

2009-01-01

This paper focuses on certain issues pertaining to energy, carbon emissions and sustainability of building construction with particular reference to the Indian construction industry. Use of sustainable natural materials in the past, related durability issues, and the implications of currently used energy-intensive materials on carbon emissions and sustainability are discussed. Some statistics on the Indian construction sector regarding materials produced in bulk quantities and the energy impl...

Study of critical beta non-circular tokamak equilibria sustained in steady state by beam driven currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okano, K.; Ogawa, Y.; Naitou, H.

1988-07-01

A new MHD-equilibrium/current-drive analysis code was developed to analyse the high beta tokamak equilibria consistent with the beam driven current profiles. In this new code, the critical beta equilibrium, which is stable against the ballooning mode, the kink mode and the Mercier mode, is determined first using MHD equilibrium and stability analysis codes (EQLAUS/ERATO). Then, the current drive parameters and the plasma parameters, required to sustain this critical beta equilibrium, are determined by iterative calculations. The beam driven current profiles are evaluated by the Fokker-Planck calculations on individual flux surfaces, where the toroidal effects on the beam ion and plasma electron trajectories are considered. The pressure calculation takes into account the beam ion and fast alpha components. A peculiarity of our new method is that the obtained solution is not only consistent with the MHD equilibrium but also consistent with the critical beta limit conditions, in the current profile and the pressure profile. Using this new method, β ∼ 21 % bean and β ∼ 6 % D-type critical beta equilibria were scanned for various parameters; the major radius, magnetic field, temperature, injection energy, etc. It was found that the achievable Q value for the bean type was always about 30 % larger than for the D-type cases, where Q = fusion power/beam power. With strong beanness, Q ∼ 6 for DEMO type tokamaks (∼500 MWth) and Q ∼ 20 for power reactor size (4.5 GWth) are achievable. On the other hand, the Q value would not exceed sixteen for the D-type machines. (author)

Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marzia Traverso

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is nowadays accepted by all stakeholders as a guiding principle for both public policy making and corporate strategies. However, the biggest challenge for most organizations remains in the real and substantial implementation of the sustainability concept. The core of the implementation challenge is the question, how sustainability performance can be measured, especially for products and processes. This paper explores the current status of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA for products and processes. For the environmental dimension well established tools like Life Cycle Assessment are available. For the economic and social dimension, there is still need for consistent and robust indicators and methods. In addition to measuring the individual sustainability dimensions, another challenge is a comprehensive, yet understandable presentation of the results. The “Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard” and the “Life Cycle Sustainability Triangle” are presented as examples for communication tools for both experts and non expert stakeholders.

Towards human and social sustainability indicators

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hilderink HBM; LOK

2004-01-01

Ever since the Brundtland Commission presented its report on sustainable development in 1987, various institutions have either adopted or tried to refine the approach used in the report. Currently, there is a broad collection of concepts that are often highly related to sustainable development.

Sustainability evaluation of nanotechnology processing and production

OpenAIRE

Teresa M. Mata; Nídia de Sá Caetano; António A. Martins

2015-01-01

This article discusses the current situation and challenges posed by nanotechnology from a sustainability point of view. It presents an objective methodology to evaluate the sustainability of nanotechnology products, based on a life cycle thinking approach, a framework particularly suited to assess all current and future relevant economic, societal and environmental impacts products and processes. It is grounded on a hierarchical definition of indicators, starting from 3D indicators that take...

Sustainable use of forest and hunting resources

OpenAIRE

Danilović Milorad; Gačić Dragan

2014-01-01

This paper presents the issue of the use of forest and hunting resources in Serbia, with special emphasis on their sustainability. The use of modern technological solutions in terms of sustainable use of forest and hunting resources should be seen through an analysis and evaluation of environmental impacts. The existing machinery used in Serbian forestry cannot respond to the current demands of forestry production. However, the current unfavourable conditio...

Sustainable Transport in Romania vs. European Union. Analysis of Road Transport System from the Sustainable Transport Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clitan Andrei - Florin

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is a term used more often lately, based on three factors: social, economic, and environmental. Sustainable transport systems increase social cohesion, reduce environmental problems and help create a more efficient economy. Sustainable transport consists in a complex system that is designed to ensure mobility needs of present generations without damaging the environment and health factors. By improving energy and material consumption, it must be capable to satisfy in optimum conditions the need for mobility for future generations. The current transportation system has not a character of sustainability.

Sustainability and Organizational Change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catălina Sitnikov

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The relevant and, above all, remarkable feature of sustainability is due to its "duality": on the one hand, it is an indispensable element within the companies even if, on the other hand, it increases the costs of many activities and processes. Facing the challenge of sustainability will determine and create, in the coming years, emerging organizational forms. If ten years ago, many managers clearly expressed their doubts regarding the financial feasibility of sustainability, today, they admit the importance of sustainability for the competitive advantage of the companies they manage. Currently, companies have great opportunities to support build a sustainable global economy, becoming one of the solutions to the most pressing societal challenges. Whether it is about reducing pollution, global warming, reducing use of water resources and other limited resources or ensuring a better work environment for employees throughout the supply chain, there are many things that companies can and should do.

Transitioning Wood Furniture Products towards Sustainability

OpenAIRE

Lu, Lei; Zhang, WeiGuang; Zhang, WeiQing

2008-01-01

Wood Furniture Products (WFPs) play a significant role in both the global economy and the transition of society towards sustainability. This paper begins with a brief description of the industry and highlights the current challenges and compelling measures of WFPs from a systems perspective through the lens of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) and by applying backcasting from sustainability principles (SPs). An examination of the challenges and opportunities of WFPs i...

Principles of sustainable energy systems

CERN Document Server

Kreith, Frank

2013-01-01

… ""This is an ideal book for seniors and graduate students interested in learning about the sustainable energy field and its penetration. The authors provide very strong discussion on cost-benefit analysis and ROI calculations for various alternate energy systems in current use. This is a descriptive book with detailed case-based analyses of various systems and engineering applications. The text book provides real-world case studies and related problems pertaining to sustainable energy systems.""--Dr. Kuruvilla John, University of North Texas""The new edition of ""Principles of Sustainable En

A Framework for Supporting Organizational Transition Processes Towards Sustainable Energy Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Buch, Rajesh

organizational transition processes towards sustainable energy systems, using systems and stakeholder mapping, participatory envisioning, and sustainability assessment to prepare the development of transition strategies towards realizing long-term energy sustainability. The energy system at Arizona State University's Tempe campus (ASU) in 2008 was used as a baseline to evaluate the sustainability of the current system. From interviews and participatory workshops, energy system stakeholders provided information to map the current system and measure its performance. Utilizing operationalized principles of energy sustainability, stakeholders envisioned a future sustainable state of the energy system, and then developed strategies to begin transition of the current system to its potential future sustainable state. Key findings include stakeholders recognizing that the current energy system is unsustainable as measured against principles of energy sustainability and an envisioned future sustainable state of the energy system. Also, insufficient governmental stakeholder engagement upstream within the current system could lead to added risk as regulations affect energy supply. Energy demand behavior and consumption patterns are insufficiently understood by current stakeholders, limiting participation and accountability from consumers. In conclusion, although this research study focused on the Tempe campus, ASU could apply this process to other campuses thereby improving overall ASU energy system sustainability. Expanding stakeholder engagement upstream within the energy system and better understanding energy consumption behavior can also improve long-term energy sustainability. Finally, benchmarking ASU's performance against its peer universities could expand the current climate commitment of participants to broader sustainability goals.

Utilities practices toward sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The strategy toward a Sustainable Development is not standardised and it is useful to compare approaches of companies. WG C3.03 analysed a number of Sustainability Reports or Environmental Reports, published by Utilities, exposing their current approaches to the three 'Pillars': environmental aspects, society development and economical performances. Case studies, relevant to the three 'Pillars', show examples of practices

THE UNSUSTAINABILITY OF 'SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT' IN A ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

central concept in environmental education. (EE). In 1980 the ... sustainability along the lines of current growth patterns. .... necessarily base their decisions on the need or wish to care for .... on which to base the immense project of sustainable.

Critical factors for sustainable food procurement in zoological collections.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanson, Jonathan H

2015-01-01

Food procurement can play an important role in sustainable food supply chain management by zoos, linking organizational operations to the biodiversity conservation and sustainability mission of zoological collections. This study therefore examines the critical factors that shape sustainable food procurement in zoo and aquariums. Using a web-based survey data was collected from 41 members of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA). This included information on the sustainable food procurement practices of these institutions for both their human and animal food supply chains, as well as profile information and data on the factors contributing to and inhibiting sustainable procurement practices. Zoological collections operated by charities, and those with a certified sustainability standard, were found to have significantly higher levels of sustainable food procurement. Zoos and aquariums whose human food operations were not contracted to an external party were also found to have significantly higher levels of sustainable food procurement in their human food supply chain. The most important drivers of sustainable food procurement were cost savings, adequate financial support and improved product quality. The highest ranking barriers were higher costs, other issues taking priority and a lack of alternative suppliers. The results suggest that a number of critical factors shape sustainable food procurement in zoological collections in the British Isles. Financial factors, such as cost savings, were important considerations. The significance of mission-related factors, such as charity status, indicated that core values held by zoos and aquariums can also influence their food procurement practices. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Current state of Japanese government deficits and the sustainability of the public debt; Zaisei akaji no genjo to seifu saimu no jizoku kanosei

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kato, H. [Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Tokyo (Japan)

1997-06-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe the current state of Japanese government deficits and public debt and to offer the materials that support the necessity of financial improvement. The public debt was defined to be sustainable when it is completely repaid in infinite future. In other words, this means that the government balances the expenditure and revenue in infinite future. In this definition, the method based on the conventional time series analysis was modified and improved to investigate whether the financial operation of the Japanese Government after the war satisfies the sustainability. The conclusion that the financial operation of the Japanese Government cannot satisfy the sustainability was reached when this method was applied. The debt that cannot be repaid even in infinite future is left. In conclusion, the financial structure accompanied by the reduction in expenditure must be improved even in the standard that requires a smoother balance than when the financial income is balanced in a finite period. 20 refs., 12 figs., 7 tabs.

Examining sustainability in a hospital setting: Case of smoking cessation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reece Robin

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Ottawa Model of Smoking Cessation (OMSC is a hospital-based smoking cessation program that is expanding across Canada. While the short-term effectiveness of hospital cessation programs has been documented, less is known about long-term sustainability. The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand how hospitals using the OMSC were addressing sustainability and determine if there were critical factors or issues that should be addressed as the program expanded. Methods Six hospitals that differed on OMSC program activities (identify and document smokers, advise quitting, provide medication, and offer follow-up were intentionally selected, and two key informants per hospital were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Key informants were asked to reflect on the initial decision to implement the OMSC, the current implementation process, and perceived sustainability of the program. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted and themes related to problem definition, stakeholder influence, and program features emerged. Results Sustainability was operationalized as higher performance of OMSC activities than at baseline. Factors identified in the literature as important for sustainability, such as program design, differences in implementation, organizational characteristics, and the community environment did not explain differences in program sustainability. Instead, key informants identified factors that reflected the interaction between how the health problem was defined by stakeholders, how priorities and concerns were addressed, features of the program itself, and fit within the hospital context and resources as being influential to the sustainability of the program. Conclusions Applying a sustainability model to a hospital smoking cessation program allowed for an examination of how decisions made during implementation may impact sustainability. Examining these factors during

Sustainable Development Policies as Indicators and Pre-Conditions for Sustainability Efforts at Universities: Fact or Fiction?

Science.gov (United States)

Leal Filho, Walter; Brandli, Luciana Londero; Becker, Deisi; Skanavis, Constantina; Kounani, Aristea; Sardi, Chrysoula; Papaioannidou, Dimitra; Paço, Arminda; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; de Sousa, Luiza Olim; Raath, Schalk; Pretorius, Rudi Wessel; Shiel, Christine; Vargas, Valeria; Trencher, Gregory; Marans, Robert W.

2018-01-01

Purpose: There is a widely held belief that sustainable development (SD) policies are essential for universities to successfully engage in matters related to sustainability, and are an indicator of the extent to which they are active in this field. This paper aims to examine the evidence which currently exists to support this assumption. It…

System Innovation for Sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

System Innovation for Sustainability 2 focuses on change towards sustainable personal mobility based on implemented cases analysed from a system perspective. It examines what changes can be made to help us reduce our need for mobility, or start to make use of more sustainable mobility systems...... in order to provide sustainable solutions to our current ‘lock-in’ problems. Three major problem areas are considered (the ‘three Cs’): carbon emissions (and the growing contribution of mobility to the climate change crisis), congestion, and casualties. And each strategy proposed addresses one or more...... of these problem areas. Among the cases discussed are: Norway’s carbon compensation scheme for air travel; Madrid’s high-occupancy vehicle lanes; London’s congestion charge scheme; market-based instruments such as eco-labelling for cars; and taxation. The book identifies opportunities for actors...

Sustainable agriculture: a challenge in Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.A.A. Faroque

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The sustainability of conventional agriculture in Bangladesh is under threat from the continuous degradation of land and water resources, and from declining yields due to indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals. Government is pursuing efforts to promote sustainable agriculture with emphasis on better use of on-farm resources and the reduction of external inputs. This paper presents four dimensions of agricultural sustainability as productivity, environmental stability, economical profitability, and social and economic equity. Six characters were selected to evaluate sustainability. Significant differences were found between the two systems (conventional and sustainable agriculture in crop diversification, soil fertility management, pests and diseases management, use of agro-chemicals and environmental issues. However, no significant variations were found in other indicators such as land-use pattern, crop yield and stability, risk and uncertainties, and food security. Although crop yield and financial return were found to be slightly higher in the conventional system, the economic return and value addition per unit of land did not show any difference. It can be suggested that sustainable agriculture has a tendency towards becoming environmental, economically and socially more sound than conventional agriculture, as it requires considerably less agro-chemicals, adds more organic matter to the soil, provides balanced food, and requires higher local inputs without markedly compromising output and financial benefits. Broad-policy measures, including the creation of mass awareness of adverse health effects of agrochemical-based products, are outlined for the promotion of sustainable agriculture.

The Cost of Sustainability in Higher Education: Staff and Student Views of a Campus Food Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Amy; Capetola, Teresa; Lawson, Justin T.; Henderson-Wilson, Claire; Murphy, Berni

2018-01-01

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the sustainability of the food culture at Deakin University and to determine what the barriers to increasing the sustainability of food on the Burwood campus may be. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey of staff and students from the Faculty of Health at the Burwood campus of Deakin University (n =…

Indicators analysis and objectives for the development sustainable and sustainability environmental

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Noboa-Romero

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The present article is product of a research qualitative, descriptive and analytical of the indicators and objectives aimed to the development sustainable. The main objective of this essay is to analyze sustainability indicators: index of human development (IDH, sustainable development goals (SDGS, objectives of the Millennium Goals (MDGS and the index of Multidimensional poverty (IPM; through a review of research and work on these issues, in order to establish progress and results that have been generated during the use of these indicators in the field of health education, technology, and environment. Demonstrate that there is inequality between Nations, the approach is oriented to a development in the short term, benefit exclusively to current generations, exhausting natural resources, regardless of a vision in the long term for the future generations.

Determining a sustainable and economically optimal wastewater treatment and discharge strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hardisty, Paul E; Sivapalan, Mayuran; Humphries, Robert

2013-01-15

Options for treatment and discharge of wastewater in regional Western Australia (WA) are examined from the perspective of overall sustainability and social net benefit. Current practice in the state has typically involved a basic standard of treatment deemed to be protective of human health, followed by discharge to surface water bodies. Community and regulatory pressure to move to higher standards of treatment is based on the presumption that a higher standard of treatment is more protective of the environment and society, and thus is more sustainable. This analysis tests that hypothesis for Western Australian conditions. The merits of various wastewater treatment and discharge strategies are examined by quantifying financial costs (capital and operations), and by monetising the wider environmental and social costs and benefits of each option over an expanded planning horizon (30 years). Six technical treatment-disposal options were assessed at a test site, all of which met the fundamental criterion of protecting human health. From a financial perspective, the current business-as-usual option is preferred - it is the least cost solution. However, valuing externalities such as water, greenhouse gases, ecological impacts and community amenity, the status quo is revealed as sub-optimal. Advanced secondary treatment with stream disposal improves water quality and provides overall net benefit to society. All of the other options were net present value (NPV) negative. Sensitivity analysis shows that the favoured option outperforms all of the others under a wide range of financial and externality values and assumptions. Expanding the findings across the state reveals that moving from the identified socially optimal level of treatment to higher (tertiary) levels of treatment would result in a net loss to society equivalent to several hundred million dollars. In other words, everyone benefits from improving treatment to the optimum point. But society, the environment, and

CAEP 2015 Academic Symposium: Current State and Recommendations to Achieve Adequate and Sustainable Funding for Emergency Medicine Academic Units.

Science.gov (United States)

Lang, Eddy S; Artz, Jennifer D; Wilkie, Ryan D; Stiell, Ian G; Topping, Claude; Belanger, François P; Afilalo, Marc; Renouf, Tia; Crocco, Anthony; Wyatt, Kelly; Christenson, Jim

2016-05-01

To describe the current state of academic emergency medicine (EM) funding in Canada and develop recommendations to grow and establish sustainable funding. A panel of eight leaders from different EM academic units was assembled. Using mixed methods (including a literature review, sharing of professional experiences, a survey of current EM academic heads, and data previously collected from an environmental scan), 10 recommendations were drafted and presented at an academic symposium. Attendee feedback was incorporated, and the second set of draft recommendations was further distributed to the Canadian Association Emergency Physicians (CAEP) Academic Section for additional comments before being finalized. Recommendations were developed around the funding challenges identified and solutions developed by academic EM university-based units across Canada. A strategic plan was seen as integral to achieving strong funding of an EM unit, especially when it aligned with departmental and institutional priorities. A business plan, although occasionally overlooked, was deemed an important component for planning and sustaining the academic mission. A number of recommendations surrounding philanthropy consisted of creating partnerships with existing foundations and engaging multiple stakeholders and communities. Synergy between academic and clinical EM departments was also viewed as an opportunity to ensure integration of common missions. Education and networking for current and future leaders were also viewed as invaluable to ensure that opportunities are optimized through strong leadership development and shared experiences to further the EM academic missions across the country. These recommendations were designed to improve the financial circumstances for many Canadian EM units. There is a considerable wealth of resources that can contribute to financial stability for an academic unit, and an annual networking meeting and continuing education on these issues will facilitate

Sustainable Knowledge Transformation in and through Higher Education: A Case for Transdisciplinary Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

Khoo, Su-Ming

2017-01-01

This article explores inter- and transdisciplinarity, given the need for more complex, relevant, and transformative knowledge to shift society towards more sustainable futures. It connects practical questions about economic, societal, and ecological limits to questions about the limitations of academic knowledge. Transdisciplinarity involves…

Enhanced lower hybrid current drive experiments on HT-7 tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen Weici; Kuang Guangli; Liu Yuexiu; Ding Bojiang; Shi Yaojiang

2003-01-01

Effective Lower Hybrid Current Driving (LHCD) and improved confinement experiments in higher plasma parameters (I p >200 kA, n e >2 x 10 13 cm -3 , T e ≥1 keV) have been curried out in optimized LH wave spectrum and plasma parameters in HT-7 superconducting tokamak. The dependence of current driving efficiency on LH power spectrum, plasma density (anti n e ) and toroidal magnetic field B T has been obtained under optimal conditions. A good CD efficiency was obtained at higher plasma current and higher electron density. The improvement of the energy confinement time is accompanied with the increase in line averaged electron density, and in ion and electron temperatures. The highest current driving efficiency reached η CD =I p (anti n e )R/P RF ≅1.05 x 10 19 Am -2 /W. Wave-plasma coupling was sustained in a good state and the reflective coefficient was less than 5%. The experiments have also demonstrated the ability of LH wave in the start-up and ramp-up of the plasma current. The measurement of the temporal distribution of plasma parameter shows that lower hybrid leads to a broader profile in plasma parameter. The LH power deposition profile and the plasma current density profile were modeled with a 2D Fokker-Planck code corresponding to the evolution process of the hard x-ray detector array

SUSTAINABLE AND DESIGN BUILDING PROCESSES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvio F. R. MOTTA

2009-05-01

Full Text Available The article presents a historical revision of the sustainable development and the sustainable in the constructed environment. It describes the main concepts and practices for implantation of the sustainable in the civil construction. These concepts and practices are reviewed from the perspective of the dialectic method, the general theory of systems and the theories of creative processes. These concepts are also analyzed from the perspective of quality management. The article proposes a model based on the dialectic, in which sustainability is considered an open system and a search inventive. The implantation of the sustainable in projects, companies and design processes are considered as main strategy. A vertical insertion of the sustainable in the process is proposal. In this vertical insertion, the sustainable is presents in all the phases and activities of the process. The model is organized to promote the external creative solutions to the process, through the promotion of research centers. Tools of selection of possibilities and practical are suggested, considering the characteristic dialectics proposals. The article concludes that sustainable is a cultural change in the processes, practical and management current.

Ecotourism and Sustainable Development in Costa Rica

OpenAIRE

Buchsbaum, Bernardo Duha

2004-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to provide a synopsis of the current issues facing ecotourism in Costa Rica; critically examine the impacts and challenges of ecotourism; analyze the potential of ecotourism as a strategy for sustainable development; look at ways in which ecotourism and sustainable development can be evaluated; and suggest ways to improve current ecotourism practices and policies for Costa Rica. What are the impacts and challenges of ecotourism? What are the possible benefits that...

How Exposure to ”Role Model” Projects Can Lead to Decisions for More Sustainable Infrastructure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nora Harris

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A role model, whether an individual or a project, can inspire similar performance in others. This research examines such a phenomenon during the design process for more sustainable physical infrastructure. In this empirical study, engineering professionals (n = 54 were randomly assigned either a modified version of the Envision rating system for sustainable infrastructure, which was changed to include details from an exemplary role model project, or the current version of Envision, with no role model. Professionals given the role model version of Envision achieved on average 34% more points (SD = 27 than the control group (p = 0.001. A positive role model project appears to lead engineering professionals to higher goals for sustainability performance in their design decisions. This finding, and the corresponding line of interdisciplinary research, can be used in decision-structuring interventions, which are a relatively low-cost approach to support greater sustainability in physical infrastructure development.

The Sustainable Leadership Simulator (SLS)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Thomas; Edgeman, Rick; Grewatsch, Sylvia

Some businesses and some industries are demonstrating leadership on sustainability issues through cross-organizational collaboration and innovation, but the diffusion and scaling up of the sustainability solutions often termed Best Practices has been identified as a key challenge for future...... sustainable development by the UN (Leisinger and Bakker, 2013). Over a little more than a decade global initiatives like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the UN Global Compact (UNGC) has demonstrated leadership by addressing these issues through voluntary commitment from thousands of corporations...... by the systematic application of more innovative governance mechanisms. This article currently conceptualizes the UN PRME-endorsed (Haertle, 2013) Sustainability Leadership Simulator (SLS), which at a minimum level of operationalization will be an open source based and hence impactful online training simulator...

Erasmus University Rotterdam Wrestles With Sustainability Strategy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G. Coughlan (Geraldine); T. Yue (Tao); F.H. Wijen (Frank)

2014-01-01

textabstractErasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is in the midst of a sustainability dilemma. The university is in a stage of transition, shifting focus from the city to the world stage. EUR’s current environmental sustainability policy needs more impetus. The university wants to incorporate

Integrating Sustainability Education into International Marketing Curricula

Science.gov (United States)

Perera, Chamila Roshani; Hewege, Chandana Rathnasiri

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to extend the current knowledge of curriculum developments in international business and marketing curricula. Integrating sustainability into business and marketing curricula of the universities are widely debated in previous literature. Sustainability is a global phenomenon; however, curriculum development…

Sustainable Tourism: its Interpretation and Operational Scope

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcela Bertoni

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The application of sustainability principles in tourism is an essential reference for the processes of development and promotion of potential destinations and for the restructuring  of current ones. However, there is a dichotomy between the wide spread of the concept of sustainable tourism and the limitations of the reached progress. This paper intends to encourage a theoretical discussion to examine the definitions of sustainable tourism from diverse approaches, viewpoints and scopes, and to analyze the relevant aspects of its operability, related to the integration of massive and sustainable tourism and to the implications of sustainable development, politics and social participation.

Heating and current drive requirements towards steady state operation in ITER

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poli, F. M.; Kessel, C. E.; Gorelenkova, M. [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08543 (United States); Bonoli, P. T. [MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Batchelor, D. B. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6169 (United States); Harvey, B.; Petrov, Y. [CompX, Box 2672, Del Mar, CA 92014 (United States)

2014-02-12

Steady state scenarios envisaged for ITER aim at optimizing the bootstrap current, while maintaining sufficient confinement and stability to provide the necessary fusion yield. Non-inductive scenarios will need to operate with Internal Transport Barriers (ITBs) in order to reach adequate fusion gain at typical currents of 9 MA. However, the large pressure gradients associated with ITBs in regions of weak or negative magnetic shear can be conducive to ideal MHD instabilities, reducing the no-wall limit. The E × B flow shear from toroidal plasma rotation is expected to be low in ITER, with a major role in the ITB dynamics being played by magnetic geometry. Combinations of H/CD sources that maintain weakly reversed magnetic shear profiles throughout the discharge are the focus of this work. Time-dependent transport simulations indicate that, with a trade-off of the EC equatorial and upper launcher, the formation and sustainment of quasi-steady state ITBs could be demonstrated in ITER with the baseline heating configuration. However, with proper constraints from peeling-ballooning theory on the pedestal width and height, the fusion gain and the maximum non-inductive current are below the ITER target. Upgrades of the heating and current drive system in ITER, like the use of Lower Hybrid current drive, could overcome these limitations, sustaining higher non-inductive current and confinement, more expanded ITBs which are ideal MHD stable.

Heating and current drive requirements towards steady state operation in ITER

Science.gov (United States)

Poli, F. M.; Bonoli, P. T.; Kessel, C. E.; Batchelor, D. B.; Gorelenkova, M.; Harvey, B.; Petrov, Y.

2014-02-01

Steady state scenarios envisaged for ITER aim at optimizing the bootstrap current, while maintaining sufficient confinement and stability to provide the necessary fusion yield. Non-inductive scenarios will need to operate with Internal Transport Barriers (ITBs) in order to reach adequate fusion gain at typical currents of 9 MA. However, the large pressure gradients associated with ITBs in regions of weak or negative magnetic shear can be conducive to ideal MHD instabilities, reducing the no-wall limit. The E × B flow shear from toroidal plasma rotation is expected to be low in ITER, with a major role in the ITB dynamics being played by magnetic geometry. Combinations of H/CD sources that maintain weakly reversed magnetic shear profiles throughout the discharge are the focus of this work. Time-dependent transport simulations indicate that, with a trade-off of the EC equatorial and upper launcher, the formation and sustainment of quasi-steady state ITBs could be demonstrated in ITER with the baseline heating configuration. However, with proper constraints from peeling-ballooning theory on the pedestal width and height, the fusion gain and the maximum non-inductive current are below the ITER target. Upgrades of the heating and current drive system in ITER, like the use of Lower Hybrid current drive, could overcome these limitations, sustaining higher non-inductive current and confinement, more expanded ITBs which are ideal MHD stable.

Crafting Sustainability: Handcraft in Contemporary Art and Cultural Sustainability in the Finnish Lapland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elina Härkönen

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Crafting sustainability is discussed here with respect to the dimensions of handcraft traditions in contemporary art for promoting cultural sustainability in the Scandinavian North. Aspects of decolonization, cultural revitalisation, and intergenerational dialogue form an integral part of the negotiations around the need for cultural survival and renewal for a more sustainable future. These dimensions should also be considered in the development of the current education of art teachers. Learning traditional skills and applying them in contemporary art constitute an influential method when striving for cultural sustainability. This study examines three handcraft-based contemporary art cases through art-based action research conducted in the Finnish and the Swedish Lapland. The results show that handcraft-based contemporary art practices with place-specific intergenerational and intercultural approaches create an open space for dialogue where the values and the perceptions on cultural heritage can be negotiated.

Sustainability evaluation of different systems for sea cucumber ( Apostichopus japonicus) farming based on emergy theory

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Guodong; Dong, Shuanglin; Tian, Xiangli; Gao, Qinfeng; Wang, Fang

2015-06-01

Emergy analysis is effective for analyzing ecological economic systems. However, the accuracy of the approach is affected by the diversity of economic level, meteorological and hydrological parameters in different regions. The present study evaluated the economic benefits, environmental impact, and sustainability of indoor, semi-intensive and extensive farming systems of sea cucumber ( Apostichopus japonicus) in the same region. The results showed that A. japonicus indoor farming system was high in input and output (yield) whereas pond extensive farming system was low in input and output. The output/input ratio of indoor farming system was lower than that of pond extensive farming system, and the output/input ratio of semi-intensive farming system fell in between them. The environmental loading ratio of A. japonicus extensive farming system was lower than that of indoor farming system. In addition, the emergy yield and emergy exchange ratios, and emergy sustainability and emergy indexes for sustainable development were higher in extensive farming system than those in indoor farming system. These results indicated that the current extensive farming system exerted fewer negative influences on the environment, made more efficient use of available resources, and met more sustainable development requirements than the indoor farming system. A. japonicus farming systems showed more emergy benefits than fish farming systems. The pond farming systems of A. japonicus exploited more free local environmental resources for production, caused less potential pressure on the local environment, and achieved higher sustainability than indoor farming system.

Making Fashion Sustainable : The Role of Designers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Velden, N.M.

2016-01-01

The dissertation ‘Making Fashion Sustainable – The Role of Designers’ describes the PhD research of Natascha M. van der Velden on the envisioned role designers could take responsibility for in the transition towards a more sustainable fashion industry.
The current worldwide textile and apparel

Participation, Value Rationality and Mutual Learning in Transdisciplinary Knowledge Production for Sustainable Development

Science.gov (United States)

Polk, Merritt; Knutsson, Per

2008-01-01

Given the complexity of current social structures and environmental problems, attaining a truly sustainable society seems rather improbable today. Not only has society not been planned for the complexity of the preconditions and effects that sustainability entails, sustainability is also unlikely given current individual consumption patterns,…

Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future: An Exploration of Pedagogies for Change at an Alternative College

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Blake

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Educators and policy makers have long recognised the central role that education can play in creating a more sustainable and equitable world. Yet some question whether current processes across mainstream higher education prepare learners sufficiently to graduate with the capabilities or motivation to shape and create a future that is life-sustaining. This paper presents findings from a qualitative research project carried out by Plymouth University in association with Schumacher College, Devon, UK. Schumacher College is an alternative, civil society college, owned by the Dartington Hall Trust that claims to provide transformative learning opportunities within a broad context of sustainability. The study explored the nature and application of transformative learning as a pedagogical approach to advance change towards sustainability. If learners claimed transformational learning experiences, the research asked whether, and to what extent, this transformation could be attributed to the pedagogies employed at the College. The paper begins by setting out the broad background to the relationship between marginal and mainstream educational settings, and definitions and theoretical underpinnings of transformative learning, and then leads into the research design and findings. The potential for transformative pedagogies to be applied to and employed within the wider higher education (HE sector is then discussed, and the overall findings and conclusions are presented.

Sustainable Facility Development: Perceived Benefits and Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Stinnett, Brad; Gibson, Fred

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the perceived benefits and challenges of implementing sustainable initiatives in collegiate recreational sports facilities. Additionally, this paper intends to contribute to the evolving field of facility sustainability in higher education. Design/methodology/approach The design included qualitative…

Enhancing Sustainability Curricula through Faculty Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Natkin, L. W.; Kolbe, Tammy

2016-01-01

Purpose: Although the number of higher education institutions adopting sustainability-focused faculty learning communities (FLCs) has grown, very few of these programs have published evaluation research. This paper aims to report findings from an evaluation of the University of Vermont's (UVM's) sustainability faculty fellows (SFF) program. It…

Sustainable machining

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This book provides an overview on current sustainable machining. Its chapters cover the concept in economic, social and environmental dimensions. It provides the reader with proper ways to handle several pollutants produced during the machining process. The book is useful on both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and it is of interest to all those working with manufacturing and machining technology.

Sustainable Offering Practices Through Stakeholders Engagement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bijay Prasad Kushwaha

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development is achieved by satisfying the current ends without shrinking the existing means which can serve as needs for the society in the future. It has become global motive and responsibility of present community to utilize resources in an optimum way with minimum environmental damage. The objective of this paper is to study theoretical framework and practical approaches on sustainable offering practices through customer engagement. The study has also examined the opportunities and challenges of sustainable offering practices in India. The study is based on a previous study and secondary data has been used for analysis. The outcome revealed the process for successful sustainable offering practices in context of Indian consumers. The analysis has helped to understand different practices of sustainable offering through engaging stakeholders.

Clear road for sustainable fuels? Study on the willingness of consumers to switch to sustainable fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Amelsfoort, A.; Zwier, R.

2007-01-01

In the Netherlands, there are currently hardly any filling stations where various types of sustainable fuels are available next to the regular fuels. Green Planet wants to start a filling station in the province of Drenthe. However, first Green Planet want to examine if consumers are prepared to switch to sustainable fuels. In addition, they want to know how these fuels should be properly introduced. The authors have sent questionnaires to more than 300 car drivers in the provinces of Groningen en Drenthe. Based on the results of the questionnaire a marketing strategy was developed recommending to start offering sustainable fuels, and especially B10/E10 and CNG. The consumer must be informed about the composition of sustainable fuels and possible consequences that driving on sustainable fuels may have for cars and the environment. [mk] [nl

Neoliberal governance, sustainable development and local communities in the Barents Region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica Tennberg

2014-04-01

Full Text Available There are currently high hopes in the Barents Region for economic growth, higher employment and improved well-being, encouraged by developments in the energy industry, tourism and mining. The article discusses these prospects from the perspective of local communities in five locations in the region, which spans the northernmost counties of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Northwest Russia. The communities studied are remote, relatively small, multicultural, and dependent on natural resources. The salient dynamic illuminated in the research is how ideas of sustainability and neoliberal governance meet in community development. While the two governmentalities often conflict, they sometimes also complement one another, posing a paradox that raises concerns over the social aspect of sustainable development in particular. The article is based on international, multidisciplinary research drawing on interviews as well as statistical and documentary analysis.

The macroecology of sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Burger, Joseph R.; Allen, Craig D.; Brown, James H.; Burnside, William R.; Davidson, Ana D.; Fristoe, Trevor S.; Hamilton, Marcus J.; Mercado-Silva, Norman; Nekola, Jeffrey C.; Okie, Jordan G.; Zuo, Wenyun

2012-01-01

The discipline of sustainability science has emerged in response to concerns of natural and social scientists, policymakers, and lay people about whether the Earth can continue to support human population growth and economic prosperity. Yet, sustainability science has developed largely independently from and with little reference to key ecological principles that govern life on Earth. A macroecological perspective highlights three principles that should be integral to sustainability science: 1) physical conservation laws govern the flows of energy and materials between human systems and the environment, 2) smaller systems are connected by these flows to larger systems in which they are embedded, and 3) global constraints ultimately limit flows at smaller scales. Over the past few decades, decreasing per capita rates of consumption of petroleum, phosphate, agricultural land, fresh water, fish, and wood indicate that the growing human population has surpassed the capacity of the Earth to supply enough of these essential resources to sustain even the current population and level of socioeconomic development.

PSSD - Planning System for Sustainable Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

PSSD - Planning System for Sustainable Development - is a part of the Baltic Sea Region's INTERREG II C program. The current report describes some theories, methods and tools developed under the PSSD project. First, the theoretical foundation of the project is described. Secondly, the role...... of indicators in sustainable development is discussed and a Web-based indicator generator is described. Thirdly, we describe a number of methods and tools, which support planning for sustainable development. Finally, some technical interface tools - especially a Web-based interface to the methods and tools...

Incorporating sustainability into accounting curricula

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hazelton, James; Haigh, Matthew

2010-01-01

. The first author introduced sustainability-related material into a core technical accounting unit and created an elective unit. The second author participated with students to evaluate critically social reports of employers, current and potential. In terms of an objective of bringing reflexivity......This paper chronicles the journey of two projects that sought to incorporate principles of sustainable development into predominantly technical postgraduate accounting curricula. The design and delivery of the projects were informed by Freirian principles of praxis and critical empowerment...... as vocational skills) add to the difficulties for sustainability in penetrating already overcrowded curricula....

Sustainable urban transport indicators: tool for evaluating transport sustainability in the mega cities of Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imran, M.

2005-01-01

Urban Transport is an important sector to accomplish the goal of sustainable development in Pakistan. This is important because of the high growth of the transport sector's energy consumption, road crashes and greenhouse gas emissions. This becomes significant in the Pakistani cities where motor vehicle fleet is growing at two to three times the rate of population. Transport Policies has resulted high growth of urban road traffic, increasing air and noise pollution throughout the country. This situation raised the question how to achieve sustainable urban transport in the mega cities of Pakistan? Development of sustainable urban transport indicators will provide an opportunity to analyze current transport policies to assess Pakistan progress towards or away from sustainability. Medium Term Development Framework (2005-10) has selected to analyze against establish sustainable urban transport indicators for Pakistan. On the basis of analysis, it has found that MWF has tried to address transport problem in a piecemeal manner, rather than adopting a holistic approach. Implementing MTDF policies on transport is not fully matched with a long term commitment to achieving sustainable development in Pakistan. (author)

Not planning a sustainable transport system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finnveden, Göran; Åkerman, Jonas

2014-01-01

The overall objective of the Swedish transport policy is to ensure the economically efficient and sustainable provision of transport services for people and business throughout the country. More specifically, the transport sector shall, among other things, contribute to the achievement of environmental quality objectives in which the development of the transport system plays an important role in the achievement of the objectives. The aim of this study is to analyse if current transport planning supports this policy. This is done by analysing two recent cases: the National Infrastructure Plan 2010–2021, and the planning of Bypass Stockholm, a major road investment. Our results show that the plans are in conflict with several of the environmental quality objectives. Another interesting aspect of the planning processes is that the long-term climate goals are not included in the planning processes, neither as a clear goal nor as factor that will influence future transport systems. In this way, the long-term sustainability aspects are not present in the planning. We conclude that the two cases do not contribute to a sustainable transport system. Thus, several changes must be made in the processes, including putting up clear targets for emissions. Also, the methodology for the environmental assessments needs to be further developed and discussed. - Highlights: • Two cases are studied to analyse if current planning supports a sustainable transport system. • Results show that the plans are in conflict with several of the environmental quality objectives. • Long-term climate goals are not included in the planning processes. • Current practices do not contribute to a sustainable planning processes. • Methodology and process for environmental assessments must be further developed and discussed

Not planning a sustainable transport system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Finnveden, Göran, E-mail: goran.finnveden@abe.kth.se; Åkerman, Jonas

2014-04-01

The overall objective of the Swedish transport policy is to ensure the economically efficient and sustainable provision of transport services for people and business throughout the country. More specifically, the transport sector shall, among other things, contribute to the achievement of environmental quality objectives in which the development of the transport system plays an important role in the achievement of the objectives. The aim of this study is to analyse if current transport planning supports this policy. This is done by analysing two recent cases: the National Infrastructure Plan 2010–2021, and the planning of Bypass Stockholm, a major road investment. Our results show that the plans are in conflict with several of the environmental quality objectives. Another interesting aspect of the planning processes is that the long-term climate goals are not included in the planning processes, neither as a clear goal nor as factor that will influence future transport systems. In this way, the long-term sustainability aspects are not present in the planning. We conclude that the two cases do not contribute to a sustainable transport system. Thus, several changes must be made in the processes, including putting up clear targets for emissions. Also, the methodology for the environmental assessments needs to be further developed and discussed. - Highlights: • Two cases are studied to analyse if current planning supports a sustainable transport system. • Results show that the plans are in conflict with several of the environmental quality objectives. • Long-term climate goals are not included in the planning processes. • Current practices do not contribute to a sustainable planning processes. • Methodology and process for environmental assessments must be further developed and discussed.

Coaching bioethically with the purpose of achieving sustainable development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Striedinger-Meléndez, Martha Patricia

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The present article analyzes the problematic of teaching and learning bioethics in the context of higher education, with an emphasis in medicine and aiming towards sustainable development. The objective is to expose that one of the alternatives to get to know bioethics in higher education institutions, is to coach each community bioethically. This means that the educator must be a role model for the students: not only teaching, but, living bioethically. In the beginning, it makes reference to the general aspects of bioethics and sustainable development to explain the evolution of these concepts, its situation in the present and the challenges of the future. Further, it focuses on the methodological strategies in the process of educating bio ethically, directed in leading students of higher education institutions with the purpose of achieving sustainable development. Yet, not achieving it in a traditional manner, since sustainable development also refers to wellbeing. Thus, coaching bioethically, which improves the way society functions. The conclusion is that institutions must give educators and students the tools for problem solving the priorities of humanity, such sustainable development. This can be achieved through bioethics.

Sustainable energy supply - a key to global growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, J.K.

2002-01-01

From this overall concept of what constitutes sustainability, a range of considerations on equity of energy supply across regions, time scales over which fuel and energy source mixes and technology changes and the like, can be developed. Within the spatial dimension, considerations of sustainability that operate at the global scale need to be translated to the operations of large and small companies, national and local governments down to individual households. It is a complex mix in an increasingly complex world. But one thing is certain, the world's energy demand is going to continue to increase. This demand will be largely satisfied by fossil fuels and this use is not sustainable using current technology in the long term. Massive changes are required to turn the world around onto a more sustainable pathway that will probably take many decades even to make a significant start. The aim of this paper is to briefly explore some of the possible technological options that will guide us on the road to a more sustainable energy future. A genuinely sustainable energy system that also promotes sustainable growth with an improving standard of living for all is obviously a major challenge. At the same time the global demand for energy will continue to increase. On the global scale, the prospect of climate change imposes a major long-term constraint on the use of GHG emitting fuels and generating technologies. The long-term development of a sustainable energy system will require multiple interventions and a pluralistic approach to energy management. Ingredients within the mix are likely to require: 1. innovation in the way we currently generate and supply power 2. continued integration and greater penetration of renewables 3. greater use of embedded and distributed energy generation 4. aggressive end-use efficiency 5. development of technologies to enable continued use of fossil fuels until the transition to sustainability is completed. A combination of market and regulatory

Sustainability Science Needs Sustainable Data!

Science.gov (United States)

Downs, R. R.; Chen, R. S.

2013-12-01

Sustainability science (SS) is an 'emerging field of research dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability: meeting the needs of present and future generations while substantially reducing poverty and conserving the planet's life support systems' (Kates, 2011; Clark, 2007). Bettencourt & Kaur (2011) identified more than 20,000 scientific papers published on SS topics since the 1980s with more than 35,000 distinct authors. They estimated that the field is currently growing exponentially, with the number of authors doubling approximately every 8 years. These scholars are undoubtedly using and generating a vast quantity and variety of data and information for both SS research and applications. Unfortunately we know little about what data the SS community is actually using, and whether or not the data that SS scholars generate are being preserved for future use. Moreover, since much SS research is conducted by cross-disciplinary, multi-institutional teams, often scattered around the world, there could well be increased risks of data loss, reduced data quality, inadequate documentation, and poor long-term access and usability. Capabilities and processes therefore need to be established today to support continual, reliable, and efficient preservation of and access to SS data in the future, especially so that they can be reused in conjunction with future data and for new studies not conceived in the original data collection activities. Today's long-term data stewardship challenges include establishing sustainable data governance to facilitate continuing management, selecting data to ensure that limited resources are focused on high priority SS data holdings, securing sufficient rights to allow unforeseen uses, and preparing data to enable use by future communities whose specific research and information needs are not yet known. Adopting sustainable models for archival

Sustainable railway bridges with higher axle loads:monitoring examples from northern Sweden

OpenAIRE

Elfgren, Lennart; Enochsson, Ola; Täljsten, Björn; Paulsson, Björn

2007-01-01

Monitoring of several railway bridges has been carried out in northern Sweden in order to increase the allowable axle load. The work is part of a European Integrated Project "Sustainable Bridges - Assessment for Future Traffic Demands and Longer Lives". The paper describes the project and gives some examples of applications. Monitoring of several railway bridges has been carried out in northern Sweden in order to increase the allowable axle load. The work is part of a European Integrated P...

Healthcare Building Sustainability Assessment tool - Sustainable Effective Design criteria in the Portuguese context

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro, Maria de Fátima; Mateus, Ricardo; Bragança, Luís

2017-01-01

Tools and methods to improve current practices and quality in the healthcare building sector are necessary to support decision-making at different building life cycle phases. Furthermore, Healthcare Building Sustainability Assessment (HBSA) Methods are based on criteria organised into different levels, such as categories and indicators. These criteria highlight aspects of significant importance when designing and operating a sustainable healthcare building. To bring more objectivity to the sustainability assessments, the standardisation bodies (CEN and ISO) proposed core indicators that should be used in the evaluation of the environmental, societal and economic performances of buildings. Nevertheless, relying on state of the art analysis, it is possible to conclude that there are aspects of major importance for the operation of healthcare buildings that are not considered in the HBSA methods. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the context of sustainability assessment methods in the field of healthcare buildings and to present a proposal for the incorporation of Sustainable-Effective Design (SED) criteria in a new HBSA method. The used research method is innovative since in the development of the list of sustainability criteria it considers the opinion of main healthcare buildings' stakeholders, the existing healthcare assessment methods and the ISO and CEN standardisation works in the field of the methods to assess the sustainability of construction works. As a result, the proposed method is composed of fifty-two sustainability indicators that cover the different dimensions of the sustainability concept to support decision making during the design of a new or retrofitted healthcare building in urban areas. - Highlights: •A new system to assess the sustainability of healthcare buildings is presented. •We propose a method to develop the list of sustainability indicators for hospitals. •We propose a new concept – Sustainable-Effective Design (SED

Sustainable Transportation - Indicators, Frameworks, and Performance Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gudmundsson, Henrik; Hall, Ralph P.; Marsden, Greg

This textbook provides an introduction to the concept of sustainability in the context of transportation planning, management, and decision-making. The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, indicators and frameworks for measuring sustainable development in the transportation sector...... are developed. In the second, the authors analyze actual planning and decision-making in transportation agencies in a variety of governance settings. This analysis of real-world case studies demonstrates the benefits and limitations of current approaches to sustainable development in transportation. The book...... concludes with a discussion on how to make sustainability count in transportation decision-making and practice....

New Swedish environmental and sustainable education research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johan Öhman

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This special issue of Education & Democracy presents examples froma new generation of Swedish research on environmental and sustainability education and thereby complement the picture of the current Swedish environmental and sustainability education research outlined in the recent Danish-Swedish special issue of Environmental EducationResearch (Vol 16, No 1 and the anthology Democracy and Values inEducation for Sustainable Development – Contributions from Swedish Research (Öhman 2008. All the contributors to this issue are associatedwith the Graduate School in Education and Sustainable Development (GRESD, either as PhD students or as supervisors.

Towards a life-cycle based european sustainability footprint framework: theory, concepts, applications

OpenAIRE

PELLETIER NATHANIEL; MAAS Rob; GORALCZYK MALGORZATA; WOLF Marc-Andree

2012-01-01

Sustainability is central to the policy objectives of the European Commission, but an integrated sustainability assessment framework in support of policy analysis and development is currently lacking. Arriving at an integrated sustainability assessment framework requires clearly articulated definitions of sustainability and sustainable development. Here, we describe the conceptual basis for the proposed European Sustainability Footprint - an integrated sustainability assessment framework for ...

Country brand equity model: Sustainability perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teodorović Milivoj

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a model of country brand equity that incorporates the issue of sustainability in determining destination brand equity. In particular, the model includes elements of sustainability as its core dimensions and promotes the concept of the country sustainability promise that transforms destination resources into the positive perception and experience. The theoretical model is empirically tested using global secondary data confirming that country image is the most important element followed by sustainability and loyalty. Also, the analysis suggests the existence of the higher order construct confirming the country brand equity concept. Based on the research findings, the article offers some implications to the destination managers by suggesting the direction for further development and strategy implementation.

Amalgamating sustainable design strategies into architectural curricula

OpenAIRE

Elnokaly, Amira; Elseragy, Ahmed

2009-01-01

In the era of climate change, rising sea levels, the hole in the ozone layer and current food crisis, sustainability is no longer a matter of choice; it is a must. While the term sustainability manages to embed itself in all aspects of contemporary life, sustainability in the built environment requires special attention. Designs created by architects and planners play a fundamental part in shaping the way we live, behave and interact with our surroundings. Smith (2001) argued that...

Towards Sustainability-driven Innovation through Product Service Systems

OpenAIRE

Thompson, Anthony

2010-01-01

Increasing awareness of anthropogenic impacts on the planet has lead to efforts to reduce negative environmental impacts in product development for several decades. Benefits to companies who focus on sustainability initiatives have been put forth more recently, leading to many efforts to incorporate sustainability considerations in their product innovation processes. The majority of current sustainability considerations in industry constrain design space by emphasizing reduced material and en...

Extension of the TCV Operating Space Towards Higher Elongation and Higher Normalized Current

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hofmann, F.; Coda, S.; Lavanchy, P.; Llobet, X.; Marmillod, Ph.; Martin, Y.; Martynov, A.; Mlynar, J.; Moret, J.-M.; Pochelon, A.; Sauter, O.

2002-01-01

Recently, an experimental campaign has been launched on TCV with the aim of exploring and extending the limits of the operating space. The vertical position control system has been optimized, with the help of extensive model calculations, in order to allow operation at the lowest possible stability margin. In addition, the growth rate of the axisymmetric instability has been minimized by choosing optimum values for the plasma triangularity and squareness and by operating close to the current limit imposed by the n= 1 external kink mode. These measures have allowed us to reach record values of elongation, κ=2.8, and normalized current, I N =3.6, in a tokamak with standard aspect ratio, R/a=3.5. (author)

Crowd-sourcing higher education architecting the sustainable design and development of E-Learning in Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Griff Richards

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Post-secondary access in Africa hovers around 6%, in part because there is a lack of access to physical campuses. In Phase I of the African Virtual University’s Multinational Project, 73 undergraduate courses were developed and published as OERs in English, French and Portuguese. These in turn were adopted and localized by African universities. While over 1.3 million downloads of the materials have taken place in the last 5 years, no attempt was made to harness the input of user to maintain or improve the courses. Seven years later, the African Virtual University will renew these courses along with another 50 or so in disciplines of high demand. But this time the AVU architecture will call for a sustainable approach to e-learning that challenges the 22 universities in 15 countries to not only help further develop the courses, but also to maintain them and sustain them across multiple languages.This article discusses the potential role of crowd-sourcing in curriculum development, and sketches a preliminary architecture for building a community of practice to sustain e-Learning in Africa. 

Sustainability Infused Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Ibarra, D. L.

2015-12-01

The Independent Schools Foundation Academy (ISF) in Hong Kong established a sustainability policy in 2015, which explicitly states, "an experimentally integrated, environmentally and ethically sustainable system of science education and conservation practices based on the 2012 Jeju Declaration of the World Conservation Congress will be implemented through the school". ISF Academy is a private Chinese bilingual school in Hong Kong serving over 1500 students K-12, following the framework and curriculum of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). The strategy behind the implementation of this policy includes: development of a scientific sustainable curriculum that is age appropriate; establish a culture of sustainability within the ISF community and beyond to the wider HK community; install sustainable infrastructure that allows students to learn; and learn first hand sustainable living practices. It is well understood that solutions to the environmental challenges facing Hong Kong and our planet will require multiple disciplines. The current sustainability programs at ISF include: a) a whole school aerobic food waste composting system and organic farming, b) energy consumption monitoring of existing buildings, c) upcoming installation of an air pollution monitoring equipment that will correlate with the AQHI data collected by the Hong Kong government, d) a Renewable Energy Education Center (REEC) that will teach students about RE and also produce solar energy for classroom consumption, and e) student lead environmental group that manages the paper and used cooking oil recycling on campus. The Shuyuan Science and Sustainability faculty work closely with classroom teachers to ensure that the above mentioned projects are incorporated into the curriculum throughout the school. Interdisciplinary units (IDU) of study are being developed that encourage faculty and students to work across subject areas. Projects include Personal Projects, Extended Essays

Higher Education Solar Development: Policy Issues

Science.gov (United States)

This presentation from a workshop session at the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference explores the policy issues and opportunities that influence a higher education institution’s approach to solar deployment.

Progress towards internal transport barriers at high plasma density sustained by pure electron heating and current drive in the FTU tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pericoli Ridolfini, V.; Barbato, E.; Buratti, P.

2003-01-01

Strong electron Internal Transport Barriers (ITBs) are obtained in FTU by the combined injection of Lower Hybrid (LH, up to 1.9 MW) and Electron Cyclotron (EC up to 0.8 MW) radio frequency waves. ITBs occur during either the current plateau or the ramp up phase, and both in full and partial current drive (CD) regimes, up to peak densities n e0 >1.2·10 20 m -3 , relevant to ITER operation. Central electron temperatures T e0 >11 keV, at n e0 ∼0.8·10 20 m -3 are sustained longer than 6 confinement times. The ITB extends over a region where a slightly reversed magnetic shear is established by off-axis LHCD and can be as wide as r/a=0.5. The EC power, instead, is used either to benefit from this improved confinement by heating inside the ITB, or to enhance the peripheral LH power deposition and CD with off axis resonance. Collisional ion heating is also observed, but thermal equilibrium with the electrons cannot be attained since the e-i equipartition time is always 4-5 times longer than the energy confinement time. The transport analysis performed with both ASTRA and JETTO codes shows a very good relation between the foot of the barrier and the weak/reversed shear region, which in turn depends on the LH deposition profile. The Bohm-gyroBohm model accounts for the electron transport until T e0 <6 keV, but is pessimistic at higher temperatures, where often also a reduction in the ion thermal conductivity is observed, provided any magneto hydrodynamic activity is suppressed. (author)

Landscape anthropogenic disturbance in the Mediterranean ecosystem: is the current landscape sustainable?

Science.gov (United States)

Biondi, Guido; D'Andrea, Mirko; Fiorucci, Paolo; Franciosi, Chiara; Lima, Marco

2013-04-01

Mediterranean landscape during the last centuries has been subject to strong anthropogenic disturbances who shifted natural vegetation cover in a cultural landscape. Most of the natural forest were destroyed in order to allow cultivation and grazing activities. In the last century, fast growing conifer plantations were introduced in order to increase timber production replacing slow growing natural forests. In addition, after the Second World War most of the grazing areas were changed in unmanaged mediterranean conifer forest frequently spread by fires. In the last decades radical socio economic changes lead to a dramatic abandonment of the cultural landscape. One of the most relevant result of these human disturbances, and in particular the replacement of deciduous forests with coniferous forests, has been the increasing in the number of forest fires, mainly human caused. The presence of conifers and shrubs, more prone to fire, triggered a feedback mechanism that makes difficult to return to the stage of potential vegetation causing huge economic, social and environmental damages. The aim of this work is to investigate the sustainability of the current landscape. A future landscape scenario has been simulated considering the natural succession in absence of human intervention assuming the current fire regime will be unaltered. To this end, a new model has been defined, implementing an ecological succession model coupled with a simply Forest Fire Model. The ecological succession model simulates the vegetation dynamics using a rule-based approach discrete in space and time. In this model Plant Functional Types (PFTs) are used to describe the landscape. Wildfires are randomly ignited on the landscape, and their propagation is simulated using a stochastic cellular automata model. The results show that the success of the natural succession toward a potential vegetation cover is prevented by the frequency of fire spreading. The actual landscape is then unsustainable

Current Trends in Malaysian Higher Education and the Effect on Education Policy and Practice: An Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Grapragasem, Selvaraj; Krishnan, Anbalagan; Mansor, Azlin Norhaini

2014-01-01

Malaysia has evolved from a production-based to knowledge-based economy in order to stay relevant and compete in the global marketplace. Thus, the purpose of this article is to discuss current trends in Malaysian higher education and how these affect education policies and practices. Four main trends are discussed in this study: Globalization,…

Sustainable Energy (SUSEN) project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richter, Jiri

2012-01-01

Research Centre Rez and University of West Bohemia started preparatory work on the 'Sustainable Energy' project, financed from EU structural funds. The goals and expected results of the project, its organization, estimated costs, time schedule and current status are described. (orig.)

CLAIMS OF SUSTAINABLE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Susanne Balslev

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of current practices within the emergent management discipline: Sustainable Facilities Management (SFM). Background: To develop a sustainable society, facilities managers must become change agents for sustainability in the built...... environment. Facilities Management (FM) is contributing to the environmental, social and economical problems, but can at the same time also be a part of the solution. However, to integrate sustainability in FM is still an emergent niche within FM, and the examples of SFM so far seems to come out of very......-creating of new socio-technical services and technologies These SFM understandings are concluded to be coexisting claims of SFM definitions. Practical Implications: Facilities managers will be able to identify the mindset behind different services and technologies that are promoted as SFM. But maybe just...

Sustainable and Intensified Design of a Biodiesel Production Process

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mansouri, Seyed Soheil; Ismail, Muhammad I.; Babi, Deenesh Kavi

impact and maximum profitability is needed. In this work a computer-aided framework for process synthesis and process intensification is applied for sustainable production of biodiesel from pure/waste palm oil as the feedstock. This approach examines several biodiesel processing routes that were...... collected through available data and current technologies reported in the literature. Using this information, a generic superstructure of processing routes was created that described a network of configurations representing multiple designs for the production of biodiesel. Therefore, based on the currently...... of economic and environmental sustainability was identified. For the case of biodiesel production, the intensified process alternative turned out to be the most economical and more sustainable than other alternatives. The computer-aided methods and tools used in this work are: SustainPro (method and tool...

A Demographic Approach to Evaluating Tree Population Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corey R. Halpin

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Quantitative criteria for assessing demographic sustainability of tree populations would be useful in forest conservation, as climate change and a growing complex of invasive pests are likely to drive forests outside their historic range of variability. In this paper, we used CANOPY, a spatially explicit, individual‐tree model, to examine the effects of initial size distributions on sustainability of tree populations for 70 northern hardwood stands under current environmental conditions. A demographic sustainability index was calculated as the ratio of future simulated basal area to current basal area, given current demographic structure and density‐dependent demographic equations. Only steeply descending size distributions were indicated to be moderately or highly sustainable (final basal area/initial basal area ≥0.7 over several tree generations. Five of the six principal species had demographic sustainability index values of <0.6 in 40%–84% of the stands. However, at a small landscape scale, nearly all species had mean index values >1. Simulation experiments suggested that a minimum sapling density of 300 per hectare was required to sustain the initial basal area, but further increases in sapling density did not increase basal area because of coincident increases in mortality. A variable slope with high q‐ratios in small size classes was needed to maintain the existing overstory of mature and old‐growth stands. This analytical approach may be useful in identifying stands needing restoration treatments to maintain existing species composition in situations where forests are likely to have future recruitment limitations.

Metropolitan Innovation and Sustainability in China—A Double Lens Perspective on Regional Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiangdong Chen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This study proposes and integrates a double lens investigation framework on sustainability and diversities of innovation at the city level in China. Lens I concerns economic performance with the energy intensiveness of the production mode and Lens II involves a four-dimensional model with the current and potential elements of innovation at the city level. Based on 106Chinese cities data, sample cities grouped in Traditional Regions (TRs, Top Economic Regions (TEs and New Economy Regions (NEs of the 9 groups are clarified via the Investigation Lens I, with respect to production power, market openness and energy intensive use. The further research findings through the Investigation Lens II show that there are clear connections between innovation and sustainability and such connections are diversified due to economic reasons but also importantly, due to potential factors of human resource and knowledge creation. Cities in TEs group and especially NEs group in China are important on innovation and sustainability while southern cities in China are more innovative, with a higher potentiality of economic growth than cities in northern China. Industrial tradition and business culture can be one of the key factors influencing local innovation and sustainability.

Sustainability in nursing: a concept analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Anåker, Anna; Elf, Marie

2014-01-01

Aim The aim of this study was to describe, explore and explain the concept of sustainability in nursing. Background Although researchers in nursing and medicine have emphasised the issue of sustainability and health, the concept of sustainability in nursing is undefined and poorly researched. A need exists for theoretical and empirical studies of sustainability in nursing. Design Concept analysis as developed by Walker and Avant. Method Data were derived from dictionaries, international healthcare organisations and literature searches in the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Inclusive years for the search ranged from 1990 to 2012. A total of fourteen articles were found that referred to sustainability in nursing. Results Sustainability in nursing involves six defining attributes: ecology, environment, future, globalism, holism and maintenance. Antecedents of sustainability require climate change, environmental impact and awareness, confidence in the future, responsibility and a willingness to change. Consequences of sustainability in nursing include education in the areas of ecology, environment and sustainable development as well as sustainability as a part of nursing academic programs and in the description of the academic subject of nursing. Sustainability should also be part of national and international healthcare organisations. The concept was clarified herein by giving it a definition. Conclusion Sustainability in nursing was explored and found to contribute to sustainable development, with the ultimate goal of maintaining an environment that does not harm current and future generations′ opportunities for good health. This concept analysis provides recommendations for the healthcare sector to incorporate sustainability and provides recommendations for future research. PMID:24602178

Computer code determination of tolerable accel current and voltage limits during startup of an 80 kV MFTF sustaining neutral beam source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mayhall, D.J.; Eckard, R.D.

1979-01-01

We have used a Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL) version of the WOLF ion source extractor design computer code to determine tolerable accel current and voltage limits during startup of a prototype 80 kV Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) sustaining neutral beam source. Arc current limits are also estimated. The source extractor has gaps of 0.236, 0.721, and 0.155 cm. The effective ion mass is 2.77 AMU. The measured optimum accel current density is 0.266 A/cm 2 . The gradient grid electrode runs at 5/6 V/sub a/ (accel voltage). The suppressor electrode voltage is zero for V/sub a/ < 3 kV and -3 kV for V/sub a/ greater than or equal to 3 kV. The accel current density for optimum beam divergence is obtained for 1 less than or equal to V/sub a/ less than or equal to 80 kV, as are the beam divergence and emittance

Achieving Sustainable Value Planning For Malaysian Public Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Faudzi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is the central development issue in the modern economy. Through sustainable development, quality of life can be improved or maintained over time. Since Malaysia is targeting to become a high-income nation by the year 2020, financial investment in public projects should be planned comprehensively so that it will generate immediate and long-term benefits to the country and the people. Within the currently tight financial environment, achieving value for money in public spending is seen as one of the enablers to maintain the right momentum of economic growth. Previous studies have established the importance of integrating sustainability consideration into Value Planning protocol in order to achieve value for money, underpinned by the sustainable development agenda. Despite the establishment of the framework for the integration, the opportunity of such integration within the Malaysian Value Planning protocol for public projects remains unclear. The present state of sustainability consideration within the Value Planning practice should be first evaluated, so that potential interventions to enhance the integration can be introduced. Responding to the gap, this exploratory study was conducted. The data was collected by means of document analysis, interviews and observations; subsequently analysed using the Template Analysis technique. Based on the current practice of Value Planning in Malaysia, ten interventions are proposed to transform the present practice into Sustainable Value Planning. Sustainable Value Planning is seen as a comprehensive concept in achieving value for money in public spending underpinned by the overarching concept of sustainability

Development and application of a community sustainability visualization tool through integration of US EPA’s Sustainable and Health Community Research Program tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Maintaining a harmonious balance between economic, social, and environmental well-being is paramount to community sustainability. Communities need a practical/usable suite of measures to assess their current position on a "surface" of sustainability created from the interaction ...

Scaling-up Sustainable Aquaculture Development in Sri Lanka ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The project will also test the efficacy of different governance models for sustainable aquaculture management, to understand which institutional partnerships work best for knowledge mobilization. Third, the project will find ways to overcome factors currently limiting sustainable production, namely the supply of fingerlings for ...

Sustainable apple breedings needs sustainable marketing and management

OpenAIRE

Weber, M.

2008-01-01

Apple breeding programmes are currently in the middle of transition in terms of ownership and management. Until now most of them were funded by the public. Breeding took place by traditional methods since decades in a very sustainable way to develop better apple varieties. Today, increasing loss of national boundaries and globalisation, less interest by national bodies and institutions and rising cost levels for high tech breeding methods entire programmes are nowadays urged to...

A Survey of the Current Situation of Clinical Biobanks in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Haiyan; Ni, Mingyu; Wang, Peng; Wang, Xiaomin

2017-06-01

The development of biomedical research urgently needs the support of a large number of high-quality clinical biospecimens. Therefore, human biobanks at different levels have been established successively in China and other countries at a significantly increasing pace in recent years. To better understand the general current state of clinical biobanks in China, we surveyed 42 clinical biobanks based in hospitals and collected information involving their management systems, sharing mechanisms, quality control systems, and informational management systems using closed questionnaire methods. Based on our current information, there has not been such a large-scale survey in China. An understanding of the status and challenges current clinical biobanks face will provide valuable insights for the construction and sustainable development of higher quality clinical biobanks.

Does Sustainability Reporting have Sustenance? A Marketing Ploy or Management Tool

OpenAIRE

Halil D. Kaya; Julia S. Kwok; Elizabeth C. Rabe

2015-01-01

Sustainability efforts encompass economic, social and environmental management. After decades of promoting such causes, sustainability finally has moved up to the boardroom agenda per PricewaterhouseCooper 2012 report. As companies incorporate sustainability into business strategy, it is crucial for accountants and financial managers to capture the financial implications of those sustainable practices. This case provides an in-depth review of current reporting and measurement of sustainable p...

Is environmental management an economically sustainable business?

Science.gov (United States)

Gotschol, Antje; De Giovanni, Pietro; Esposito Vinzi, Vincenzo

2014-11-01

This paper investigates whether environmental management is an economically sustainable business. While firms invest in green production and green supply chain activities with the primary purpose of reducing their environmental impact, the reciprocal relationships with economic performance need to be clarified. Would firms and suppliers adjust their environmental strategies if the higher economic value that environmental management generates is reinvested in greening actions? We found out that environmental management positively influences economic performance as second order (long term) target, to be reached conditioned by higher environmental performance; in addition, firms can increase their performance if they reinvest the higher economic value gained through environmental management in green practices: While investing in environmental management programs is a short term strategy, economic rewards can be obtained only with some delays. Consequently, environmental management is an economically sustainable business only for patient firms. In the evaluation of these reciprocal relationships, we discovered that green supply chain initiatives are more effective and more economically sustainable than internal actions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sustainability in Recruitment and Selection: Building a Framework of Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Jepsen, Denise M.; Grob, Suzanne

2015-01-01

Much has been written about the role of human resources professionals in creating sustainable organizations. However, despite recognition that organizational human resources functions have an important role to play in sustainability, researchers tend to focus on strategic issues and sustainability. This higher-order focus has often meant that…

Sustainable Energy Survey. Main report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-02-01

This report shows the results of a quick survey of current developments in the Dutch sustainable energy market. The companies and organizations, which are all members of the branch organizations under the umbrella of the Duurzame Energie Koepel, were interviewed about their situation in relation to the credit crisis and their vision on what is needed to put a halt to (further) slumping in the sustainable energy branch and in fact to promote the growth in turnover and employment. [nl

To craft, by design, for sustainability : Towards holistic sustainability design for developing-country enterprises

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reubens, R.R.R.

2016-01-01

Current sustainable design initiatives and approaches are already looking at using industrial
techniques and technologies to recontextualize renewable materials to create innovative products
and systems to suit global markets. However, the design outputs from these

The Construction of an Environmental Management Model Based on Sustainability Indicators on a Higher Education Institution in Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Nieblas-Ortiz, Efrain C.; Arcos-Vega, José L.; Sevilla-García, Juan J.

2017-01-01

Without depreciating the importance of environmental regulations directed to university environmental managements systems in this country, nowadays, the instruments of international importance like the Sustainable Development Goals or ONU's 2030 Agenda; as well as those of domestic nature, like sustainability indicators proposed by the Mexican…

Industrialization for sustainable construction?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Egmond - de Wilde De Ligny, van E.L.C.; Barrett, P; Amaratunga, D.; Haigh, R; Keraminiyage, K.; Pathirage, C

2010-01-01

Sustainable construction (SuCo), which genesis dates in the early 1990’s, advocates the creation and operation of a quality and healthy built environment based on resource efficiency, life cycle economics and ecological principles. (Kibert, 2003). Currently the Construction Industry does not meet

Sustainability Assessment and Reporting in Agriculture Sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edward Kassem

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Sustainability assessment is a mainstream business activity that demonstrates the link between the organization’s strategy and commitment to a sustainable global economy. Sustainability indicators describe the environmental, social, economic and governance performance of Small and Medium‑sized Businesses/Enterprises (SMB/SME. Unfortunately, their implementations in the Czech Republic show a low level of engagement in sustainability assessment. The paper presents the results of the authors’ research in sustainability assessment of SMB/SMEs in the agriculture sector of the Czech Republic. An appropriate set of key performance indicators (KPIs in four dimensions (economy, environment, social and governance was developed to suit the SMB/SMEs sustainability assessment in the agriculture sector. A set of KPIs is proposed to help SMB/SMEs to avoid the barriers of sustainability assessment. These indicators are based mainly on Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture, Global Reporting Initiatives Frameworks and on current research state‑of‑the‑art. They have been created following the analysis of a number of agricultural enterprises over the world, particularly within European countries.

Higher Efficiency HVAC Motors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flynn, Charles Joseph [QM Power, Inc., Kansas City, MO (United States)

2018-02-13

The objective of this project was to design and build a cost competitive, more efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) motor than what is currently available on the market. Though different potential motor architectures among QMP’s primary technology platforms were investigated and evaluated, including through the building of numerous prototypes, the project ultimately focused on scaling up QM Power, Inc.’s (QMP) Q-Sync permanent magnet synchronous motors from available sub-fractional horsepower (HP) sizes for commercial refrigeration fan applications to larger fractional horsepower sizes appropriate for HVAC applications, and to add multi-speed functionality. The more specific goal became the research, design, development, and testing of a prototype 1/2 HP Q-Sync motor that has at least two operating speeds and 87% peak efficiency compared to incumbent electronically commutated motors (EC or ECM, also known as brushless direct current (DC) motors), the heretofore highest efficiency HVACR fan motor solution, at approximately 82% peak efficiency. The resulting motor prototype built achieved these goals, hitting 90% efficiency and .95 power factor at full load and speed, and 80% efficiency and .7 power factor at half speed. Q-Sync, developed in part through a DOE SBIR grant (Award # DE-SC0006311), is a novel, patented motor technology that improves on electronically commutated permanent magnet motors through an advanced electronic circuit technology. It allows a motor to “sync” with the alternating current (AC) power flow. It does so by eliminating the constant, wasteful power conversions from AC to DC and back to AC through the synthetic creation of a new AC wave on the primary circuit board (PCB) by a process called pulse width modulation (PWM; aka electronic commutation) that is incessantly required to sustain motor operation in an EC permanent magnet motor. The Q-Sync circuit improves the power factor of the motor by removing all

Sustainability in nursing: a concept analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Anåker, Anna; Elf, Marie

2014-06-01

The aim of this study was to describe, explore and explain the concept of sustainability in nursing. Although researchers in nursing and medicine have emphasised the issue of sustainability and health, the concept of sustainability in nursing is undefined and poorly researched. A need exists for theoretical and empirical studies of sustainability in nursing. Concept analysis as developed by Walker and Avant. Data were derived from dictionaries, international healthcare organisations and literature searches in the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Inclusive years for the search ranged from 1990 to 2012. A total of fourteen articles were found that referred to sustainability in nursing. Sustainability in nursing involves six defining attributes: ecology, environment, future, globalism, holism and maintenance. Antecedents of sustainability require climate change, environmental impact and awareness, confidence in the future, responsibility and a willingness to change. Consequences of sustainability in nursing include education in the areas of ecology, environment and sustainable development as well as sustainability as a part of nursing academic programs and in the description of the academic subject of nursing. Sustainability should also be part of national and international healthcare organisations. The concept was clarified herein by giving it a definition. Sustainability in nursing was explored and found to contribute to sustainable development, with the ultimate goal of maintaining an environment that does not harm current and future generations' opportunities for good health. This concept analysis provides recommendations for the healthcare sector to incorporate sustainability and provides recommendations for future research. © 2014 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic College of Caring Science.

Higher educational system of the Republic of Serbia in support of sustainable development: Challenges of the EU integration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vujičić Milica

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the system of higher education in the Republic of Serbia in the context of educational paradigms and the development of the innovation and knowledge-based national economy. The subject of the research is higher education in Serbia in a life-long learning perspective as an essential component in achieving smart growth, capable enough to become a competent part of the European Higher Education Area. The aim of this paper is to examine the current situation in this area and the achievements of the new Strategy for Development of Education in Serbia by 2020 in the context of the expansion of higher education on the global level, as well as to emphasize the responsibility towards future generations for development of a more modern system of education based on the creativity of all participants in the learning process. In conclusion, the paper points out that the developmental orientation of educational system in the Republic of Serbia is building a new model of higher education.

Undergraduate Writing Promotes Student’s Understanding of International Sustainable Development in Horticulture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil O. Anderson

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Promotion of undergraduate student thinking and learning in the realm of sustainable production is a new focus for horticulture curricula. In a writing intensive course, Greenhouse Management (Hort 3002W; University of Minnesota, students focus their learning of sustainability by writing peer-reviewed, 3-phase ‘Worldwide Sustainable Horticultural Crop Production Papers’ on past, present, and future prospects for sustainability. The USA is used as an in-class example throughout the semester while each student focuses their writing on a specific country of their choosing. Their papers focus on eight goals for each country across the three Phases: I—their choice of a country, definition of sustainability, identification of historical production practices, current production statistics; II—current production practices and integration of historical/current practices (ranked strategies; III—finalized sustainable development strategy, design of a future sustainable, controlled-environment production facility. The last two goals (Phase III provide plant breeders with potential breeding objectives for country-specific cultivar development within a sustainable production framework. Completed papers are web-published for global availability to enable each country’s researchers and policy makers to access sustainable ideas for future development. In 2009–2010, ‘Worldwide Sustainable Horticultural Crop Production Papers’ were published for 41 countries which were downloaded 3900 times in 19 months through April 2011. This large readership indicates such an assignment can generate interest in either undergraduate writing about developing sustainable horticulture and/or the topic area itself, although the exact purpose of the downloads or the location of the users could not be determined.

Core Design and Deployment Strategy of Heavy Water Cooled Sustainable Thorium Reactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naoyuki Takaki

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Our previous studies on water cooled thorium breeder reactor based on matured pressurized water reactor (PWR plant technology concluded that reduced moderated core by arranging fuel pins in a triangular tight lattice array and using heavy water as coolant is appropriate for achieving better breeding performance and higher burn-up simultaneously [1–6]. One optimum core that produces 3.5 GW thermal energy using Th-²³³U oxide fuel shows a breeding ratio of 1.07 and averaged burn-up of about 80 GWd/t with long cycle length of 1300 days. The moderator to fuel volume ratio is 0.6 and required enrichment of ²³³U for the fresh fuel is about 7%. The coolant reactivity coefficient is negative during all cycles despite it being a large scale breeder reactor. In order to introduce this sustainable thorium reactor, three-step deployment scenario, with intermediate transition phase between current light water reactor (LWR phase and future sustainer phase, is proposed. Both in transition phase and sustainer phase, almost the same core design can be applicable only by changing fissile materials mixed with thorium from plutonium to ²³³U with slight modification in the fuel assembly design. Assuming total capacity of 60 GWe in current LWR phase and reprocessing capacity of 800 ton/y with further extensions to 1600 ton/y, all LWRs will be replaced by heavy water cooled thorium reactors within about one century then thorium reactors will be kept operational owing to its potential to sustain fissile fuels while reprocessing all spent fuels until exhaustion of massive thorium resource.

Civic Engagement and Environmental Sustainability in Teaching and Learning at Higher Education Institution in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nhokodi Tererai

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article seeks to provide an outline the scope of professional teaching and learning activities and their connection to civic engagement and the achievement of environmental sustainability at Rhodes University and in Makana Local Municipality. Activities in the context of rainwater water harvesting and sanitation research are used as examples. The improved hydrogen-sulphide test kit was used as the tool for the assessment of microbial water quality between April and July 2016. An approach to the improvement in the design and modelling of the performance of ventillated improved pit latrines under laboratory conditions is also described. All activities described have been taking place in the context of undergraduate and postgraduate student research projects at Rhodes University. They have implications for teaching and learning, civic engagement and environmental sustainability. Teaching and learning of the concepts of sustainability can facilitate the development of the necessary connection between academia and the society at large. This can have a significant positive effect on societal conditions in South Africa. Further endeavours similar those described in this article should be stimulated in South and beyond.

Sustainable Sizing.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinette, Kathleen M; Veitch, Daisy

2016-08-01

To provide a review of sustainable sizing practices that reduce waste, increase sales, and simultaneously produce safer, better fitting, accommodating products. Sustainable sizing involves a set of methods good for both the environment (sustainable environment) and business (sustainable business). Sustainable sizing methods reduce (1) materials used, (2) the number of sizes or adjustments, and (3) the amount of product unsold or marked down for sale. This reduces waste and cost. The methods can also increase sales by fitting more people in the target market and produce happier, loyal customers with better fitting products. This is a mini-review of methods that result in more sustainable sizing practices. It also reviews and contrasts current statistical and modeling practices that lead to poor fit and sizing. Fit-mapping and the use of cases are two excellent methods suited for creating sustainable sizing, when real people (vs. virtual people) are used. These methods are described and reviewed. Evidence presented supports the view that virtual fitting with simulated people and products is not yet effective. Fit-mapping and cases with real people and actual products result in good design and products that are fit for person, fit for purpose, with good accommodation and comfortable, optimized sizing. While virtual models have been shown to be ineffective for predicting or representing fit, there is an opportunity to improve them by adding fit-mapping data to the models. This will require saving fit data, product data, anthropometry, and demographics in a standardized manner. For this success to extend to the wider design community, the development of a standardized method of data collection for fit-mapping with a globally shared fit-map database is needed. It will enable the world community to build knowledge of fit and accommodation and generate effective virtual fitting for the future. A standardized method of data collection that tests products' fit methodically

Sustainable Venture Capital Investments: An Enabler Investigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Antarciuc

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Investing in sustainable projects can help tackle the current sustainability challenges. Venture capital investments can contribute significantly to the growth of sustainable start-ups. Sustainable venture capital (SVC research is just emerging. This paper identifies enablers for sustainable venture capital investments in Saudi Arabia taking into account different stakeholders and firm’s tangible and intangible resources. Using perspectives from venture capital experts in Saudi Arabia and the grey-based Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL method, this study pinpoints the most critical enablers and investigates their causal and effect interconnections. The methodological process consists of reviewing the SVC literature and consulting the experts to identify the SVC enablers, creating a questionnaire, acquiring the answers from four experts, analyzing the data with grey-based DEMATEL and performing a sensitivity analysis. The government use of international standards, policies and regulations for sustainable investments, the commitment of the venture capitalists to sustainability and their deep understanding of sustainable business models are the most influential enablers. The paper concludes with implications for different actors, limitations and prospective directions for the sustainable venture capital research.

Sustained spheromak physics experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hooper, E.B.; Bulmer, R.H.; Cohen, B.I.

2001-01-01

The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment, SSPX, will study spheromak physics with particular attention to energy confinement and magnetic fluctuations in a spheromak sustained by electrostatic helicity injection. In order to operate in a low collisionality mode, requiring T e >100 eV, vacuum techniques developed for tokamaks will be applied, and a divertor will be used for the first time in a spheromak. The discharge will operate for pulse lengths of several milliseconds, long compared to the time to establish a steady-state equilibrium but short compared to the L/R time of the flux conserver. The spheromak and helicity injector ('gun') are closely coupled, as shown by an ideal MHD model with force-free injector and edge plasmas. The current from the gun passes along the symmetry axis of the spheromak, and the resulting toroidal magnetic field causes the safety factor, q, to diverge on the separatrix. The q-profile depends on the ratio of the injector current to spheromak current and on the magnetic flux coupling the injector to the spheromak. New diagnostics include magnetic field measurements by a reflectometer operating in combined O- and X-modes and by a transient internal probe (TIP). (author)

Sustained spheromak physics experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hooper, E.B.; Bulmer, R.H.; Cohen, B.I.

1999-01-01

The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment, SSPX, will study spheromak physics with particular attention to energy confinement and magnetic fluctuations in a spheromak sustained by electrostatic helicity injection. In order to operate in a low collisionality mode, requiring T e > 100 eV, vacuum techniques developed for tokamaks will be applied, and a divertor will be used for the first time in a spheromak. The discharge will operate for pulse lengths of several milliseconds, long compared to the time to establish a steady-state equilibrium but short compared to the L/R time of the flux conserver. The spheromak and helicity injector ('gun') are closely coupled, as shown by an ideal MHD model with force-free injector and edge plasmas. The current from the gun passes along the symmetry axis of the spheromak, and the resulting toroidal magnetic field causes the safety factor, q, to diverge on the separatrix. The q-profile depends on the ratio of the injector current to spheromak current and on the magnetic flux coupling the injector to the spheromak. New diagnostics include magnetic field measurements by a reflectometer operating in combined O- and X-modes and by a transient internal probe (TIP). (author)

Integration of Sustainability in Engineering Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guerra, Aida

2017-01-01

Purpose: Education for sustainable development (ESD) is one of the challenges engineering education currently faces. Engineering education needs to revise and change its curriculum to integrate ESD principles and knowledge. Problem based learning (PBL) has been one of the main learning pedagogies...... used to integrate sustainability in engineering education. However, there is a lack of understanding of the relation between ESD and PBL principles and the ways in which they can be integrated and practised in the engineering curricula. This paper aims to investigate the relation between PBL and ESD...... knowledge and the tacit presence of sustainability. Originality/value: The existence of a PBL curriculum at institutional level, such as at Aalborg University, enables investigation of how the PBL and ESD principles are practised, highlighting the limitations and potentials of integrating sustainability...

ECOLABEL – TOOL FOR PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

RATIU Mariana

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The ecolabel is one of the indicators that quantify sustainable consumption and production, and ultimately, sustainable development. Ecolabelling is only one type of environmental labelling, and refers specifically to the provision of information to consumers about the relative environmental quality of a product. Ecolabels are granted on request of various organizations, both public and private, and are recognized only locally or nationally, regionally or internationally. Often coexist at the same time and same place, several types of environmental labels. The acceptance of a particular ecolabel is optional, and is made usually based on reputation, trust and awareness about the label and the level to promote certain brands for better lifestyle and for use the eco, organic or green products. There are currently tracking worldwide by Ecolabel Index, which is the largest global directory of ecolabels, 449 ecolabels in 197 countries, and 25 industry sectors, from which 109 are for textile products. The number of EU Ecolabel greatly increased, so that in the period 2000- 2010, the increase was more than 20 times. At the end of 2012, 17176 products or services was awarded EU Ecolabel. Curently, certainly, the number is much higher. Today, in the Ecolabel Index appear registered in Romania 23 types of ecolabels. Also, Romania currently has awarded 586 licenses for Eu Ecolabel, from which two for textile products and two for footwear.

Approaching Environmental Sustainability: Perceptions of Self-Efficacy and Changeability.

Science.gov (United States)

Schutte, Nicola S; Bhullar, Navjot

2017-04-03

This paper describes a model focused on the role of self-efficacy and belief in changeability of behavior in motivating environmentally sustainable behavior. The model was tested in two studies. The first study found that participants who had greater self-efficacy for sustainability behavior and a greater belief in their changeability of sustainability behavior had a higher level of approach motivation toward sustainability behavior and reported more such actual behavior. The second study investigated the effect of brief interventions intended to increase perception of self-efficacy for sustainability-related purchasing and changeability of sustainability-related purchasing. The intervention that focused on enhancing self-efficacy for making sustainability-related purchases had the strongest impact on intention to purchase. These findings have implications for interventions intended to change behavior related to environmental sustainability.

Urban policy engagement with social sustainability in metro Vancouver.

Science.gov (United States)

Holden, Meg

2012-01-01

This article presents an analysis of social sustainability in comparative theoretical context and as a challenge to the post-political interpretation of sustainability in policy practice at the urban and regional scales. Metro Vancouver provides a case study for improving our understanding of the meaning of social sustainability as a framework for social policy in that it is among the handful of cities around the world currently working to define and enact social sustainability in governance terms. Results of this participant research provide evidence that some cities are politically engaging alternative development pathways using the concept of social sustainability. For sustainable development to retain its promise as an alternative policy framework for cities, social sustainability must be at the forefront.

Ants as tools in sustainable agriculture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Offenberg, Joachim

2015-01-01

1. With an expanding human population placing increasing pressure on the environment, agriculture needs sustainable production that can match conventional methods. Integrated pest management (IPM) is more sustainable, but not necessarily as efficient as conventional non-sustainable measures. 2...... in multiple crops. Their efficiency is comparable to chemical pesticides or higher, while at lower costs. They provide a rare example of documented efficient conservation biological control. 3. Weaver ants share beneficial traits with almost 13 000 other ant species and are unlikely to be unique...... of agricultural systems, this review emphasizes the potential of managing ants to achieve sustainable pest management solutions. The synthesis suggests future directions and may catalyse a research agenda on the utilization of ants, not only against arthropod pests, but also against weeds and plant diseases...

Mapping one year’s design processes at an architecture firm specialized in sustainable architecture - How do sustainability certification systems affect design processes?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Landgren, Mathilde; Jensen, Lotte Bjerregaard; Heller, Alfred

2016-01-01

The current study mapped how a Danish architecture firm integrated sustainability in their projects over a year. All the projects concerned were aimed at being sustainable within the framework of the DGNB certification system. The focus of DGNB is equally divided between environmental, economic...

Sustainability of animal production systems: an ecological perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Vavra, M

1996-06-01

The question of sustainability of agricultural production and the use of natural resources has become a popular topic. Most scientists agree that current systems are generally non-sustainable. Current rates of resource extraction will lead us to a depleted earth in the future. Sustainability is defined in many ways. For this paper sustainability should be considered the overlap of what is wanted and what is ecologically possible. Attempts have been made to place a quantitative measure on sustainability. However, it should be considered a trajectory or goal, a direction that guides constructive change, rather than a single quantitative measure. Research and extension personnel may have to take a broader look at their efforts and expand their knowledge base in order to address the issue of sustainable production systems. Both natural events and those caused by humans bring about changes in production potential that require shifts in management. Uncertainty and change should be incorporated into adaptive management strategies. Interdisciplinary efforts are needed to confront these issues. Animal scientists need to formulate management systems that are environmentally compatible or face restrictive legislation that will force change. Members of the American Society of Animal Science seem to agree: efficient and sustainable use of natural resources appears in the draft of the Strategic Plan of the Society, and a poll of members revealed that environmental concerns about animal agriculture was a primary issue facing animal scientists.

Building Sustainability Change Management and Leadership Skills in Students: Lessons Learned from "Sustainability and the Campus" at the University of Michigan

Science.gov (United States)

Shriberg, Michael; Harris, Kathryn

2012-01-01

Leading institutions of higher education are increasingly utilizing the campus as a laboratory not only for implementing "green projects" but also for developing the skill set of students to lead the deep organizational change necessary for sustainability. This case study of "Sustainability and the Campus" at the University of…

Alignment of Healthy Dietary Patterns and Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Miriam E; Hamm, Michael W; Hu, Frank B; Abrams, Steven A; Griffin, Timothy S

2016-11-01

To support food security for current and future generations, there is a need to understand the relation between sustainable diets and the health of a population. In recent years, a number of studies have investigated and compared different dietary patterns to better understand which foods and eating patterns have less of an environmental impact while meeting nutritional needs and promoting health. This systematic review (SR) of population-level dietary patterns and food sustainability extends and updates the SR that was conducted by the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, an expert committee commissioned by the federal government to inform dietary guidance as it relates to the committee's original conclusions. In the original SR, 15 studies met the criteria for inclusion; since then, an additional 8 studies have been identified and included. The relations between dietary intake patterns and both health and environmental outcomes were compared across studies, with methodologies that included modeling, life cycle assessment, and land use analysis. Across studies, consistent evidence indicated that a dietary pattern higher in plant-based foods (e.g., vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts, whole grains) and lower in animal-based foods (especially red meat), as well as lower in total energy, is both healthier and associated with a lesser impact on the environment. This dietary pattern differs from current average consumption patterns in the United States. Our updated SR confirms and strengthens the conclusions of the original US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee SR, which found that adherence to several well-characterized dietary patterns, including vegetarian (with variations) diets, dietary guidelines-related diets, Mediterranean-style diets, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and other sustainable diet scenarios, promotes greater health and has a less negative impact on the environment than current average dietary intakes. �

Sustainability, Materiality and Independent External Assurance

OpenAIRE

Jones, Peter; Bown, Robin; Hillier, David; Comfort, Daphne

2017-01-01

This chapter offers a preliminary examination of how the UK's leading food retailers are reporting on sustainability and of the role of materiality and external assurance in their reporting processes. Food retailing is by far the largest, and arguably the most fiercely competitive, sector within the UK retail economy. The chapter examines the current sustainability issues being addressed by the UK's leading food retailers, if and how they embraced materiality and commissioned independent exte...

Stakes and Challenges for Sustainable Development

OpenAIRE

COLONNA, Paul

2015-01-01

How can we ensure the sustainability of biological resources? The development of new industries using biomass as raw material to produce a broad range of products, through a large number of different transformation processes, raises new questions on the associated environmental impacts. The current situation, mainly due to the significant development of the bio-fuel industries, is characterized by strong demand for sustainability criteria to apply to these new industries, particularly from a...

Civic Education for Sustainable Development and Its Consequences for German Civic Education Didactics and Curricula of Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Brunold, Andreas

2015-01-01

Since the nineties, the principle of sustainable development has increasingly been adopted by policy makers and civil society in Germany and, of course, in many countries of the world. With the acceptance of this principle, the significance of education for sustainable development (ESD) has also been recognised. Increased awareness of the problems…

Sustainability, energy technologies, and ethics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matson, R.J. [National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); Carasso, M.

1999-01-01

A study of the economic, social-political, and environmental consequences of using renewable energy technologies (RETs, e.g., photovoltaics, wind, solar thermal, biofuels) as compared to those of conventional energy technologies (CETs e.g., oil, coal, gas) would show that RETs are singularly consistent with a whole ethic that is implicit in the concept of sustainability. This paper argues for sustainability as an ethical, as well as a pragmatic, imperative and for RETs as an integral part of this imperative. It brings to the fore some of the specific current economic, political, and environmental assumptions and practices that are inconsistent with both sustainability and with a rapid deployment of RETs. Reflecting an emerging planetary awareness and a pressing need to come to terms with intra- and intergenerational equity, the concept of sustainability explicitly entails the right of future generations to the same opportunity of access to a healthy ecological future and the finite endowment of the Earth`s resources as that of the present generation. (Author)

The State of Sustainability Reporting at Canadian Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Fonseca, Alberto; Macdonald, Amanda; Dandy, Emily; Valenti, Paul

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the state of sustainability reporting in Canada's higher education sector, while understanding who is reporting on sustainability performance, how is information being reported, and what is being reported. Design/methodology/approach: A framework with ten categories and 56 indicators based on the…

A current drive by using the fast wave in frequency range higher than two timeslower hybrid resonance frequency on tokamaks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim Sun Ho

2017-01-01

Full Text Available An efficient current drive scheme in central or off-axis region is required for the steady state operation of tokamak fusion reactors. The current drive by using the fast wave in frequency range higher than two times lower hybrid resonance (w>2wlh could be such a scheme in high density, high temperature reactor-grade tokamak plasmas. First, it has relatively higher parallel electric field to the magnetic field favorable to the current generation, compared to fast waves in other frequency range. Second, it can deeply penetrate into high density plasmas compared to the slow wave in the same frequency range. Third, parasitic coupling to the slow wave can contribute also to the current drive avoiding parametric instability, thermal mode conversion and ion heating occured in the frequency range w<2wlh. In this study, the propagation boundary, accessibility, and the energy flow of the fast wave are given via cold dispersion relation and group velocity. The power absorption and current drive efficiency are discussed qualitatively through the hot dispersion relation and the polarization. Finally, those characteristics are confirmed with ray tracing code GENRAY for the KSTAR plasmas.

Perceived sustainability initiatives: retail managers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bartels, J.; Reinders, M. J.; Van Haaster-de Winter, M. A.

2015-01-01

Purpose – Although awareness of environmental sustainability has increased over the past few decades, the current market share of sustainable products remains low. Because of their market position, large-scale and high-volume consumer interactions, food retailers are appropriate venues to entice

Perceived sustainability initiatives: retail managers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bartels, J.; Reinders, M.J.; Haaster-de Winter, van M.A.

2015-01-01

Purpose
– Although awareness of environmental sustainability has increased over the past few decades, the current market share of sustainable products remains low. Because of their market position, large-scale and high-volume consumer interactions, food retailers are appropriate venues to entice

A pathway for sustainable conversion of sunlight to hydrogen using proposed compact CPV system

KAUST Repository

Burhan, Muhammad; Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil; Oh, Seung Jin; Ng, Kim Choon

2018-01-01

Solar energy being intermittent in nature, can provide a sustainable, steady and high density energy source when converted into electrolytic hydrogen. However, in current photovoltaic market trend with 99% conventional single junction PV panels, this cannot be achieved efficiently and economically. The advent of the multi-junction solar cells (MJCs), with cell-efficiency exceeding 46%, has yet to receive wide spread acceptance in the current PV market in form of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system, because of its system design complexity, limiting its application scope and customers. The objective of this paper is to develop a low cost compact CPV system that will not only eliminate its application and installation related restrictions but it is also introducing a highly efficient and sustainable photovoltaic system for common consumer, to convert intermittent sunlight into green hydrogen. The developed CPV system negates the common conviction by showing two times more power output than the flat plate PV, in tropical region. In addition, sunlight to hydrogen conversion efficiency of 18% is recorded for CPV, which is two times higher than alone electricity production efficiency of flat plate PV.

A pathway for sustainable conversion of sunlight to hydrogen using proposed compact CPV system

KAUST Repository

Burhan, Muhammad

2018-03-22

Solar energy being intermittent in nature, can provide a sustainable, steady and high density energy source when converted into electrolytic hydrogen. However, in current photovoltaic market trend with 99% conventional single junction PV panels, this cannot be achieved efficiently and economically. The advent of the multi-junction solar cells (MJCs), with cell-efficiency exceeding 46%, has yet to receive wide spread acceptance in the current PV market in form of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system, because of its system design complexity, limiting its application scope and customers. The objective of this paper is to develop a low cost compact CPV system that will not only eliminate its application and installation related restrictions but it is also introducing a highly efficient and sustainable photovoltaic system for common consumer, to convert intermittent sunlight into green hydrogen. The developed CPV system negates the common conviction by showing two times more power output than the flat plate PV, in tropical region. In addition, sunlight to hydrogen conversion efficiency of 18% is recorded for CPV, which is two times higher than alone electricity production efficiency of flat plate PV.

From The Human-Environment Theme Towards Sustainability – Danish Geography and Education for Sustainable Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grindsted, Thomas Skou

2013-01-01

Research on geography in relation to education for sustainable development (ESD), has only recently climbed the research agenda. The geopolitics of intended learning outcomes in the ESD debate, carries policy that produce dilemmas and challenges confronted with disciplinary traditions....... In this article it is examined dialectically how the changing climate and the paradigm of sustainability have been dealt with in Danish geographical university education. It is shown how curriculum programs in higher geographical education have taken different approaches to address issues of sustainability...... and climate change and how geographers articulate their role and function as knowledge on human-environment interactions changes. The analysis of the geographical education reveal that geographers’ find their discipline contribute considerably to ESD, and thus the human environment theme seems...

Is woody residue part of your plan for sustainable forestry?

Science.gov (United States)

Deborah Page-Dumroese

2010-01-01

The answer to the title question should be "yes"! Currently, there is a lot of chatter about sustainable forestry and alternative fuels, including conversion of wood to bioenergy. At first glance it may seem like there is a conflict - how can removal of woody biomass be sustainable? Whether you are a small woodlot owner doing sustainable harvesting, looking...

Fiscal Stress: Worldwide Trends in Higher Education Finance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vossensteyn, Johan J.

2004-01-01

While higher education is regarded of high priority in boosting economic development, public budgets to sustain expansion of higher education systems remain limited around the globe. In practice, this situation of fiscal stress creates an impetus for governments to develop various strategies to meet

Sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chein-Chi; DiGiovanni, Kimberly; Mei, Ying; Wei, Li

2016-10-01

This review on Sustainability covers selected 2015 publications on the focus of Sustainability. It is divided into the following sections : • Sustainable water and wastewater utilities • Sustainable water resources management • Stormwater and green infrastructure • Sustainability in wastewater treatment • Life cycle assessment (LCA) applications • Sustainability and energy in wastewater industry, • Sustainability and asset management.

Plurality or convergence in sustainability reporting standards?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadia Albu

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Over the last years an increasing number of companies issued Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR or Sustainability Reports to complement their traditional financial reporting. Companies use various sustainability reporting standards or develop their own reporting frameworks starting from the existing ones. This variation of practices pointed out by empirical research raises questions about the quality and comparability of sustainability reporting, its role in the sustainable development, and also about the suitability of accepting the plurality of reporting frameworks or the need for convergence. This study aims to investigate the issues of plurality and convergence in sustainability reporting standards, by mobilizing the discourses on regulation and the case of a group of companies in the IT industry in order to shed some light on the current challenges in this area. We frame a discussion on the opportunities and pitfalls of convergence in sustainability reporting regulations and contribute to a better understanding of this issue by academics, preparers, users and standard setters

Sustainable use of forest and hunting resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danilović Milorad

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the issue of the use of forest and hunting resources in Serbia, with special emphasis on their sustainability. The use of modern technological solutions in terms of sustainable use of forest and hunting resources should be seen through an analysis and evaluation of environmental impacts. The existing machinery used in Serbian forestry cannot respond to the current demands of forestry production. However, the current unfavourable conditions can be significantly improved with appropriate measures. The planning of a network of roads including a number of factors that directly and indirectly affect sustainable use is of great importance for the development of forestry and hunting. Wood biomass in Serbian forests should be used in the manner and to the extent that ensures the sustainability of ecosystems and the production of large quantities of energy. In recent years, non-timber forest products have gained importance, so that the income generated from their use is growing. The impact of newly adopted laws and bylaws in the field of forestry, hunting and the protection of nature and environment will depend primarily on their application, control, execution and possible amendments and adjustments.

Integrating sustainability in Engineering Education in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Ulrik; Valderrama Pineda, Andres Felipe; Remmen, Arne

2013-01-01

How to include sustainability in engineering education is currently the main concern among engineering educators. In one way or another, engineering educators are increasingly addressing sustainability issues in the courses they teach, the programs they design and run, the institutional activities...... to be a broader social concern to be taken across programs or eventually in specialised new professional endeavours? To further this discussion, in the second part of this paper we examine how environmental, energy and sustainability we will present some details of the design of the Master Engineering programs...... on Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Design at Aalborg University in Denmark. These programs claim to have developed effective strategies for educating robust engineers capable of dealing with the complexities of the needed calculations and the modelling of physical processes and at the same time able to cope...

Physics and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Emre, B.

2005-01-01

Is there a relationship with between physics and sustainable development? The answer of this question is yes since in the past to the health and welfare of people and nations physics has made tremendous contributions. Think of the contributions that physics has made to the world economy in areas such as electronics, materials, and computer technology, also to health x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine. However, many of these contributions have benefited people in the developed world more than those in the developing world. Moreover current physics curricula do not have vision of to offer the student a full perspective of sustainable development

Determination of consumer awareness about sustainable fashion

Science.gov (United States)

Saricam, C.; Erdumlu, N.; Silan, A.; Dogan, B. L.; Sonmezcan, G.

2017-10-01

The concept of sustainability has begun to gain importance in fashion industry. The companies, which are acting in sustainable fashion, want to gain recognition, inform the consumer about their products and services and generate a demand from the consumers. But the awareness of the consumers about sustainability is still an unknown. In this study, the level of awareness of consumers about sustainable fashion was tried to be determined with a survey established in Turkey in which the socio-demographic characteristics and the awareness level of the participants were questioned. The result of the survey showed that the level of awareness among the participants is not so high and the perception of sustainability is mostly limited to some aspects of sustainable fashion such as “Usage of organic materials” and “Recycling”. Besides, the analysis of the relation between socio-demographic characteristics and awareness level of sustainable fashion showed that the awareness level increased with the education level and income to some extent. But specifically, the males and the participants aged between 24-29 have higher levels of awareness compared with the other participants.

Iran's energy policy current dilemmas and perspective for a sustainable energy policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massarrat, M.

2005-01-01

Iran is facing large challenges in the area of energy policy. In order to illuminate these challenges and the problems and possibilities they present, first I will analyze the current energy consumption patterns in Iran as well as the energy policy of the Iranian government-Including its atomic energy programs. Based on this analysis, I will then formulate alternative concepts for Iran's future energy and national security policy. The increase in energy usage in Iran is distinctly out of proportion with the development of economic productivity. Negative structural characteristics of this system are: first, an above-average energy intensity; second, an increase in energy consumption in the traffic sector; third, a high growth rate in the use of electrical energy; and lastly, an above-average amount of stress to the environment. Traditionally, Iran's energy policy has focused on satisfying the growing demand for energy by oil and, in the last fifteen years, by successively expanding natural gas. However, the further development of the natural gas supply only makes sense within the context of a holistic energy policy, which takes into account the principles of sustainable development. In the short term, such a policy would take advantage of both considerable energy-saving techniques, as well as potential renewable energy sources. In the long term, such a policy would strive for the complete transfer to renewable energy sources and technology. The atomic energy program is not a good answer to the future energy needs of Iran, and better solutions should be envisaged for Iran's legitimate security concerns

Teaching relational understandings of sustainability in engineering education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Erik Hagelskjær; Jørgensen, Ulrik

, descriptions of technologies as interlinked with social practices, and descriptions of consumption dynamics through the use of business models. The paper informs a discussion on how such contextual methods can be combined with more immanent approaches to sustainability and contributes to a further...... alongside other requirements, leaves little room for addressing more radical sustainability challenges. An alternative to this is to describe the sustainability challenge as the identification of disruptive possibilities that can challenge the current unsustainable regimes of consumption and production...

Auditory and visual sustained attention in Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Faught, Gayle G; Conners, Frances A; Himmelberger, Zachary M

2016-01-01

Sustained attention (SA) is important to task performance and development of higher functions. It emerges as a separable component of attention during preschool and shows incremental improvements during this stage of development. The current study investigated if auditory and visual SA match developmental level or are particular challenges for youth with DS. Further, we sought to determine if there were modality effects in SA that could predict those seen in short-term memory (STM). We compared youth with DS to typically developing youth matched for nonverbal mental age and receptive vocabulary. Groups completed auditory and visual sustained attention to response tests (SARTs) and STM tasks. Results indicated groups performed similarly on both SARTs, even over varying cognitive ability. Further, within groups participants performed similarly on auditory and visual SARTs, thus SA could not predict modality effects in STM. However, SA did generally predict a significant portion of unique variance in groups' STM. Ultimately, results suggested both auditory and visual SA match developmental level in DS. Further, SA generally predicts STM, though SA does not necessarily predict the pattern of poor auditory relative to visual STM characteristic of DS. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proceedings Report from the Sustainability Education Summit, September 20-21, 2010

Science.gov (United States)

US Department of Education, 2011

2011-01-01

The first-ever U. S. Department of Education summit on sustainability, "Sustainability Education Summit: Citizenship and Pathways for a Green Economy," was held on Sept. 20-21, 2010, in Washington, D.C. The Sustainability Education Summit (the Summit) brought together leaders from higher education, business and industry, labor,…

The price for biofuels sustainability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pacini, Henrique; Assunção, Lucas; Dam, Jinke van; Toneto, Rudinei

2013-01-01

The production and usage of biofuels has increased worldwide, seeking goals of energy security, low-carbon energy and rural development. As biofuels trade increased, the European Union introduced sustainability regulations in an attempt to reduce the risks associated with biofuels. Producers were then confronted with costs of sustainability certification, in order to access the EU market. Hopes were that sustainably-produced biofuels would be rewarded with higher prices in the EU. Based on a review of recent literature, interviews with traders and price data from Platts, this paper explores whether sustainability premiums emerged and if so, did they represent an attracting feature in the market for sustainable biofuels. This article finds that premiums for ethanol and biodiesel evolved differently between 2011 and 2012, but have been in general very small or inexistent, with certified fuels becoming the new norm in the market. For different reasons, there has been an apparent convergence between biofuel policies in the EU and the US. As market operators perceive a long-term trend for full certification in the biofuels market, producers in developing countries are likely to face additional challenges in terms of finance and capacity to cope with the sustainability requirements. - Highlights: • EU biofuel sustainability rules were once thought to reward compliant producers with price-premiums. • Premiums for certified biofuels, however, have been small for biodiesel and almost non-existent for ethanol. • As sustainable biofuels became the new norm, premiums disappeared almost completely in 2012. • Early stages of supply chains concentrate the highest compliance costs, affecting specially developing country producers. • Producers are now in a market where sustainable biofuels have become the new norm

A EUropean study on effectiveness and sustainability of current Cardiac Rehabilitation programmes in the Elderly: Design of the EU-CaRE randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Prescott, Eva; Meindersma, Esther P; van der Velde, Astrid E; Gonzalez-Juanatey, Jose R; Iliou, Marie Christine; Ardissino, Diego; Zoccai, Giuseppe Biondi; Zeymer, Uwe; Prins, Leonie F; Van't Hof, Arnoud Wj; Wilhelm, Matthias; de Kluiver, Ed P

2016-10-01

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an evidence-based intervention to increase survival and quality of life. Yet studies consistently show that elderly patients are less frequently referred to CR, show less uptake and more often drop out of CR programmes. The European study on effectiveness and sustainability of current cardiac rehabilitation programmes in the elderly (EU-CaRE) project consists of an observational study and an open prospective, investigator-initiated multicentre randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving mobile telemonitoring guided CR (mCR). The aim of EU-CaRE is to map the efficiency of current CR of the elderly in Europe, and to investigate whether mCR is an effective alternative in terms of efficacy, adherence and sustainability. The EU-CaRE study includes patients aged 65 years or older with ischaemic heart disease or who have undergone heart valve surgery. A total of 1760 patients participating in existing CR programmes in eight regions of Europe will be included. Of patients declining regular CR, 238 will be included in the RCT and randomised in two study arms. The experimental group (mCR) will receive a personalised home-based programme while the control group will receive no advice or coaching throughout the study period. Outcomes will be assessed after the end of CR and at 12 months follow-up. The primary outcome is VO 2peak and secondary outcomes include variables describing CR uptake, adherence, efficacy and sustainability. The study will provide important information to improve CR in the elderly. The EU-CaRE RCT is the first European multicentre study of mCR as an alternative for elderly patients not attending usual CR. © The European Society of Cardiology 2016.

Export growth, energy costs, and sustainable supply chains

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-01

The report examines sustainable supply chains in North America and the role played by rail intermodal : operations in lowering ten-mile fuel and emission costs. It examines whether current systems favor imports : over exports a current complaint ...

Field-parallel Acceleration: Comment on the Paper “Electric Currents on the Flare Ribbons: Observations and Standard Model” by Janvier et al. (2014, ApJ, 788, 60)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haerendel, G. [Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching (Germany)

2017-10-01

It is proposed that the coincidence of higher brightness and upward electric current observed by Janvier et al. during a flare indicates electron acceleration by field-parallel potential drops sustained by extremely strong field-aligned currents of order 10{sup 4} A m{sup −2}. A few consequences are discussed here.

Starting the Pluralistic Tradition of Teaching? Effects of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) on Pre-Service Teachers' Views on Teaching about Sustainable Development

Science.gov (United States)

Andersson, Klas

2017-01-01

There is currently a well-established belief among politicians, scholars and university representatives that educational systems can produce positive attitudes towards sustainable development (SD) among citizens. This article investigates whether Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in teacher education has effects on pre-service teachers'…

Navigating Sustainability Embeddedness in Management Decision-Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine Le Roux

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is an essential theme for business. In order to compete, strategies need to be improvised and efficient and effective decisions need to be made for improved sustainability performance. Despite management’s apparent knowledge of this, it appears that challenges persist with sustainability’s embeddedness in decision-making and its implementation in practice. In this study we propose a metaphor applying an integrative view of sustainability as support for management. We offer six antecedents of sustainability embeddedness in decision-making that contribute to building and confirming theory, and also provide a better understanding of current practice around sustainability embeddedness so that strategies can be developed for improved sustainability performance. Employees on all management levels in a stock exchange listed company provided rich empirical data for the study. Through the analysis of data in a case study, antecedents were inductively identified, conceptualized, and presented as using descriptive labels, namely: A True North Destination—a vision of sustainability embeddedness; Mountains—three obstacles; Fog—confusion and complexity; Myopia—shortsightedness; Navigation Necessities—requirements for the journey; and finally, the Chosen Team—selected stakeholders. Sustainability embeddedness was found to be dependent on leadership, the strategy message and structures, performance measures, and policies that support a unified culture for sustainability embeddedness.

Developing a comprehensive definition of sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Julia E; Mascarenhas, Alekhya; Bain, Julie; Straus, Sharon E

2017-09-02

Understanding sustainability is one of the significant implementation science challenges. One of the big challenges in researching sustainability is the lack of consistent definitions in the literature. Most implementation studies do not present a definition of sustainability, even when assessing sustainability. The aim of the current study was to systematically develop a comprehensive definition of sustainability based on definitions already used in the literature. We searched for knowledge syntheses of sustainability and abstracted sustainability definitions from the articles identified through any relevant systematic and scoping reviews. The constructs in the abstracted sustainability definitions were mapped to an existing definition. The comprehensive definition of sustainability was revised to include emerging constructs. We identified four knowledge syntheses of sustainability, which identified 209 original articles. Of the 209 articles, 24 (11.5%) included a definition of sustainability. These definitions were mapped to three constructs from an existing definition, and nine new constructs emerged. We reviewed all constructs and created a revised definition: (1) after a defined period of time, (2) a program, clinical intervention, and/or implementation strategies continue to be delivered and/or (3) individual behavior change (i.e., clinician, patient) is maintained; (4) the program and individual behavior change may evolve or adapt while (5) continuing to produce benefits for individuals/systems. All 24 definitions were remapped to the comprehensive definition (percent agreement among three coders was 94%). Of the 24 definitions, 17 described the continued delivery of a program (70.8%), 17 mentioned continued outcomes (70.8%), 13 mentioned time (54.2%), 8 addressed the individual maintenance of a behavior change (33.3%), and 6 described the evolution or adaptation (25.0%). We drew from over 200 studies to identify 24 existing definitions of sustainability

Identifying Desistance Pathways in a Higher Education Program for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Runell, Lindsey Livingston

2017-06-01

The link between education and crime is a topic that requires special attention with respect to the converging influence of individual, social, and environmental factors. This article will investigate the educational pathways followed by students in a higher education program for formerly incarcerated individuals at a large state university in the northeastern United States. Specifically, it will explore the extent to which their postincarceration educational experiences served as a "hook for change" and also related impediments tied to street influences, financial constraints, stigma, academic and social development. Data were collected from a sample of 34 current and former students in the program, each of whom participated in a face-to-face interview. The higher education program played a key role in propelling the desistance process for research participants. This article will discuss how personal agency can be sustained through participation in higher education post release and the implications for future research on crime avoidance.

GIS Operations at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site: A Review of the Current Status and a Proposed Action to Ensure Long-Term Data Sustainability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coleman, Andre M.; Webber, William D.

2005-07-27

This paper provides a current state of spatial data collections, use, management, and challenges at the Hanford Site through the use and development of a Spatial Data Infrastructure. Recommendations designed to ensure data quality, usability and sustainability now and into the future are presented.

Sustainable resilience in property maintenance: encountering changing weather conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cox, Rimante Andrasiunaite; Nielsen, Susanne Balslev

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to develop a methodological approach for project management to integrate sustainability and resilience planning in property maintenance as an incremental strategy for upgrading existing properties to meet new standards for sustainable and climate resilient...... buildings. Background: Current maintenance practice is focused on the technical standard of buildings, with little consideration of sustainability and resilience. There is a need to develop tools for incorporating sustainable resilience into maintenance planning. Approach: The study is primarily theoretical......, developing the concept of sustainable resilience for changing weather conditions Results: The paper suggests a decision support methodology that quantifies sustainable resilience for the analytical stages of property maintenance planning. Practical Implications: The methodology is generic and expected users...

The role of sustainability requirements in international bioenergy markets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pelkmans, Luc; Goovaerts, Liesbet; Goh, Chun Sheng

2014-01-01

As the main driver for bioenergy is to enable society to transform to more sustainable fuel and energy production systems, it is important to safeguard that bioenergy deployment happens within certain sustainability constraints. There is currently a high number of initiatives, including binding...... regulations and several voluntary sustainability standards for biomass, bioenergy and/or biofuels. Within IEA Bioenergy studies were performed to monitor the actual implementation process of sustainability regulations and certification, evaluate how stakeholders are affected and envisage the anticipated......’ of biomass involves different policy arenas and legal settings. Policy pathways should be clear and predictable, and future revisions of sustainability requirements should be open and transparent. Sustainability assurance systems (both through binding regulations and voluntary certification) should take...

Sustainability assessment of a lightweight biomimetic ceiling structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antony, Florian; Speck, Thomas; Speck, Olga; Grießhammer, Rainer

2014-01-01

An intensive and continuous debate centres on the question of whether biomimetics has a specific potential to contribute to sustainability. In the context of a case study, the objective of this paper is to contribute to this debate by presenting the first systematic approach to assess the sustainability of a complex biomimetic product. The object of inquiry is a lecture hall's ribbed slab. Based on criteria suggested by the Association of German Engineers (VDI), it has been verified that the slab has been correctly defined as biomimetic. Moreover, a systematic comparative product sustainability assessment has been carefully carried out. For purposes of comparison, estimated static calculations have been performed for conceivable current state-of-the-art lightweight ceiling structures. Alternative options are a hollow article slab and a pre-stressed flat slab. Besides a detailed benefit analysis and a discussion of social effects, their costs have also been compared. A particularly detailed life cycle assessment on the respective environmental impacts has also been performed. Results show that the biomimetic ribbed slab built in the 1960s is able to keep up with the current state-of-the-art lightweight solutions in terms of sustainability. These promising results encourage a systematic search for a broad range of sustainable biomimetic solutions. (paper)

A Multidisciplinary Team-Teaching Approach to Sustainable Business Education

Science.gov (United States)

Izberk-Bilgin, Elif; Klein, Barbara D.; Chandra, Charu; Lee, Hei-Wai; Susko, David; Lee, Moses; Zikanov, Oleg

2012-01-01

Sustainability has been identified as one of the most pressing challenges for business and society. However, research shows that sustainability topics are still not given sufficient attention in higher education, particularly in the undergraduate business curriculum. This paper offers a template for an interdisciplinary, team-taught undergraduate…

Tidal current energy resource assessment in Ireland: Current status and future update

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Rourke, Fergal; Boyle, Fergal; Reynolds, Anthony

2010-01-01

Interest in renewable energy in Ireland has increased continually over the past decade. This interest is due primarily to security of supply issues and the effects of climate change. Ireland imports over 90% of its primary energy consumption, mostly in the form of fossil fuels. The exploitation of Ireland's vast indigenous renewable energy resources is required in order to reduce this over-dependence on fossil fuel imports to meet energy demand. Various targets have been set by the Irish government to incorporate renewable energy technologies into Ireland's energy market. As a result of these targets, the development in wind energy has increased substantially over the past decade; however this method of energy extraction is intermittent and unpredictable. Ireland has an excellent tidal current energy resource and the use of this resource will assist in the development of a sustainable energy future. Energy extraction using tidal current energy technologies offers a vast and predictable energy resource. This paper reviews the currently accepted tidal current energy resource assessment for Ireland. This assessment was compiled by Sustainable Energy Ireland in a report in 2004. The assessment employed a 2-dimensional numerical model of the tidal current velocities around Ireland, and from this numerical model the theoretical tidal current energy resource was identified. With the introduction of constraints and limitations, the technical, practical, accessible and viable tidal current energy resources were obtained. The paper discusses why the assessment needs updating including the effect on the assessment of the current stage of development of tidal current turbines and their deployment technology. (author)

Just sustainability? Sustainability and social justice in professional codes of ethics for engineers.

Science.gov (United States)

Brauer, Cletus S

2013-09-01

Should environmental, social, and economic sustainability be of primary concern to engineers? Should social justice be among these concerns? Although the deterioration of our natural environment and the increase in social injustices are among today's most pressing and important issues, engineering codes of ethics and their paramountcy clause, which contains those values most important to engineering and to what it means to be an engineer, do not yet put either concept on a par with the safety, health, and welfare of the public. This paper addresses a recent proposal by Michelfelder and Jones (2011) to include sustainability in the paramountcy clause as a way of rectifying the current disregard for social justice issues in the engineering codes. That proposal builds on a certain notion of sustainability that includes social justice as one of its dimensions and claims that social justice is a necessary condition for sustainability, not vice versa. The relationship between these concepts is discussed, and the original proposal is rejected. Drawing on insights developed throughout the paper, some suggestions are made as to how one should address the different requirements that theory and practice demand of the value taxonomy of professional codes of ethics.

Business Sustainability: How Does Tourism Compare?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Char-lee Moyle

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This study aims to empirically compare the adoption of business sustainability amongst 291 randomly-selected tourism and non-tourism businesses in New South Wales, Australia. Tourism businesses were found to be more committed to environmentally-sustainable practices than other types of businesses with there being a clear correlation with their ability to learn and adapt. This contradicts criticisms in the literature that tourism businesses are slow adopters of sustainability. This study highlights the need for further research into why tourism businesses in New South Wales, Australia, are reporting higher levels of performance in terms of adopting environmental values than other businesses in contradiction to the general perception of tourism businesses in the literature.

Current Issues for Higher Education Information Resources Management.

Science.gov (United States)

CAUSE/EFFECT, 1996

1996-01-01

Issues identified as important to the future of information resources management and use in higher education include information policy in a networked environment, distributed computing, integrating information resources and college planning, benchmarking information technology, integrated digital libraries, technology integration in teaching,…

Climate Change and Sustainability Open Educational Resources: Lessons learned and challenges to tackle

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Zoe; Whitfield, Stephen; Gertisser, Ralf; Krause, Stefan; McKay, Deirdre; Pringle, Jamie; Szkornik, Katie; Waller, Richard

2010-05-01

The UK's Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) is currently running a project entitled ‘C-Change in GEES: Open licensing of climate change and sustainability resources in the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences' as part of a national Open Educational Resource project. The C-Change project aims to explore the challenges involved in ‘repurposing' existing teaching materials on the topics of climate change and sustainability to make them open access. This project has produced an open access resource of diverse climate change and sustainability-related teaching materials across the subjects of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. The process of repurposing existing face-to-face teaching resources requires consideration of a wide variety of issues including the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) associated with images and other material included in the teaching resources, in addition to issues of quality, accessibility and usability of resources. Open access education is an issue that will have implications across the whole of the organizational structure of a university, from legal advisors with commitments to University research and enterprise activities, to the academics wishing to produce open access resources, through to all levels of senior management. The attitudes, concerns and openness to Open Educational Resources of stakeholders from all positions within a HE institution will have implications for the participation of that institution within the OER movement. The many barriers to the whole-scale adoption of Open Educational Resources within the UK Higher Education system and the willingness of UK Higher Education Institutions to engage in the OER movement include institutional perspectives on the IPR of teaching materials developed by members of staff within the institution and financial viability, in addition to more sceptical attitudes of potential contributors. Keele University is

Volume Home Building: The Provision of Sustainability Information for New Homebuyers

OpenAIRE

Georgia Warren-Myers; Erryn McRae

2017-01-01

The new residential housing sector is producing approximately 200,000 homes a year that could benefit from methods to increase sustainability and energy efficiency. Currently, there is limited implementation of sustainability measures beyond mandatory minimum requirements in Australia. New homebuyers are often the scapegoats for the poor sustainability adoption due to their perceived lack of interest and willingness to pay. However, their knowledge and engagement in sustainability is likely t...

Implementing Sustainable Development

OpenAIRE

Rydin, Y.

2002-01-01

This paper highlights the scope for making progress towards sustainable development through changes in current practices and decision-making processes that do not need international agreements. It outlines seven key areas for improving implementation, including: using monitoring and evaluation (and the information these produce) to change attitudes and behaviour; participation that involves the public constructively; better use of “soft” instruments of persuasion and communication; and ensuri...

Sustainability Assessment of Plant Protection Strategies in Swiss Winter Wheat and Potato Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrik Mouron

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Production of arable crops in Switzerland is subsidized for services performed within the Proof of Ecological Performance (PEP program, the crop protection part of which is based on IPM principles. Within PEP, chemical insect control must rely on those approved insecticides that are deemed harmless for beneficial arthropods. Approved insecticides potentially impacting beneficial arthropods may also be applied, but only if unavoidable and with an official permit. In order to assess the ecological and economic sustainability of this PEP program, a reference insecticide strategy illustrating the current PEP requirements was compared with other strategies. For this purpose, a sustainability assessment taking account of ecotoxicological risks and economic viability in addition to the preservation of beneficial arthropods was performed according to the SustainOS methodology. The results show that the one-off use of Audienz (spinosad to control cereal leaf beetle (Oulema melanopus—a key pest in winter wheat—would significantly improve sustainability vis-à-vis the reference (Nomolt (teflubenzuron plus Biscaya (thiacloprid. However, in the case of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata, in potato crops, where Audienz is considered the reference, no alternative would exhibit better sustainability. Moreover, the study shows that strategies using Novodor (Bacillus thuringiensis protect beneficial species well but have the drawbacks of increased yield risk and higher costs. The conclusions drawn from these analyses allow recommendations for modifications of the PEP requirements for these two pest insects. The SustainOS methodology, a multi-step process combining expert knowledge with quantitative assessments including a sensitivity analysis of key target parameters and a rule-based aggregation of assessment results, yielded valuable insights into the sustainability of different crop protection strategies.

Renewable sustainable biocatalyzed electricity production in a photosynthetic algal microbial fuel cell (PAMFC).

Science.gov (United States)

Strik, David P B T B; Terlouw, Hilde; Hamelers, Hubertus V M; Buisman, Cees J N

2008-12-01

Electricity production via solar energy capturing by living higher plants and microalgae in combination with microbial fuel cells are attractive because these systems promise to generate useful energy in a renewable, sustainable, and efficient manner. This study describes the proof of principle of a photosynthetic algal microbial fuel cell (PAMFC) based on naturally selected algae and electrochemically active microorganisms in an open system and without addition of instable or toxic mediators. The developed solar-powered PAMFC produced continuously over 100 days renewable biocatalyzed electricity. The sustainable performance of the PAMFC resulted in a maximum current density of 539 mA/m2 projected anode surface area and a maximum power production of 110 mW/m2 surface area photobioreactor. The energy recovery of the PAMFC can be increased by optimization of the photobioreactor, by reducing the competition from non-electrochemically active microorganisms, by increasing the electrode surface and establishment of a further-enriched biofilm. Since the objective is to produce net renewable energy with algae, future research should also focus on the development of low energy input PAMFCs. This is because current algae production systems have energy inputs similar to the energy present in the outcoming valuable products.

Multifunctional Environmental Smart Fertilizer Based on l-Aspartic Acid for Sustained Nutrient Release.

Science.gov (United States)

Lü, Shaoyu; Feng, Chen; Gao, Chunmei; Wang, Xinggang; Xu, Xiubin; Bai, Xiao; Gao, Nannan; Liu, Mingzhu

2016-06-22

Fertilizer is one of the most important elements of modern agriculture. However, conventional fertilizer, when applied to crops, is vulnerable to losses through volatilization, leaching, nitrification, or other means. Such a loss limits crop yields and pollutes the environment. In an effort to enhance nutrient use efficiency and reduce environmental pollution, an environmental smart fertilizer was reported in the current study. Poly(aspartic acid) and a degradable macro-cross-linker based on l-aspartic acid were synthesized and introduced into the fertilizer as a superabsorbent to improve the fertilizer degradability and soil moisture-retention capacity. Sustained release behavior of the fertilizer was achieved in soil. Cumulative release of nitrogen and phosphorus was 79.8% and 64.4% after 30 days, respectively. The water-holding and water-retention capacities of soil with the superabsorbent are obviously higher than those of the control soil without superabsorbent. For the sample of 200 g of soil with 1.5 g of superabsorbent, the water-holding capacity is 81.8%, and the water-retention capacity remains 22.6% after 23 days. All of the current results in this study indicated that the as-prepared fertilizer has a promising application in sustainable modern agriculture.

New, innovative and sustainable transportation fuels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lassi, U. (Univ. of Oulu, Dept. of Chemistry (Finland)). email: ulla.lassi@oulu.fi; Keiski, R. (Univ. of Oulu, Dept. of Process and Environmental Engineering (Finland)); Kordas, K. (Univ. of Oulu, Microelectronics and Materials Physics Laboratories (Finland)); Mikkola, J.-P. (Aabo Akademi Univ., Lab. of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering, Turku (Finland))

2009-07-01

Secondary products from the industry - e.g. by-products of food and paper/pulp industry - can be used to manufacture new liquid biofuels or fuel components. A particularly interesting alternative is provided by butanol, which can be produced from biomass, since it seems to be most suitable for replacing petrol as fuel in gasoline engines. Besides, it is very energy efficient and also suitable to be produced on an industrial scale. Production of biobutanol and other higher alcohols is studied in the research project 'New, innovative sustainable transportation fuels for mobile applications; from biocomponents to flexible liquid fuels (SusFuFlex)'. The project is carried out as a joint project between the University of Oulu and Aabo Akademi University. It is financied by the Academy of Finland in 2008-2011, within the research programme for Sustainable Energy. Research focuses on the production of higher bioalcohols and other compounds suitable as oxygenates (e.g. butanol, pentanol, mixed alcohols; e.g. glycerine ethers, glycerol carbonate). The objectives of the research are (1) to evaluate the old and novel procedures for microbiological production of butanol, higher alcohols and oxygenates as fossil fuel substitutes, (2) to develop and optimize catalytic materials and chemical reaction routes for the production of higher alcohols and other bio-derived compounds applicable as gasoline fuel and its additives, (3) to conduct a sustainability analysis of the processes to be developed, to analyze the atom economy of the new processes and to make a preliminary economical analysis, and (4) to integrate the processes and know-how developed by the research groups

Optimization of RFP formation and sustainment in RFX

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martini, S.; Buffa, A.; Collarin, P.; Lorenzi, A. De; Fiorentin, P.; Innocente, P.; Marchiori, G.; Paccagnella, R.; Piovan, R.; Sonato, P. [Istituto Gas Ionizzati del CNR, EURATOM-ENEA-CNR Association, Padua (Italy)

1993-12-31

In the first months of 1993, the RFX experiment (R=2 m, a=0.46 m) has operated at reduced volt-second (6 V{center_dot}s out of 15) to study the formation and sustainment of the RFP in a relatively safer power input regime, before increasing the parameters to reach the design value of 2 MA plasma current. At present the RFP configuration is obtained, similarly to the ETA-BETA II experiment, in the aided mode: a capacitor bank is discharged into the toroidal winding to produce an initial toroidal flux, {Phi}{sub T}, then the plasma current, I{sub T}, is induced by varying the poloidal flux stored in the magnetising winding; the free oscillation of the toroidal circuit continues and {Phi}{sub T} decays during the initial plasma current rise, until the toroidal field at the wall, B{sub T}(a), reverses and the toroidal circuit is crow-barred. The overall performance of the plasma during the RFP sustainment phase is strongly influenced by the control performed on density, toroidal field and plasma position during the formation phase. As soon as the RFP is obtained, a clear improvement of confinement is seen and the plasma current increases again until the applied toroidal voltage V{sub T}, which decreases exponentially, no longer matches the resistive drop. In RFX it is also possible to insert a pre-programmed flat-top power amplifier by which V{sub T} can be sustained and controlled in the range (0-60 V). In this way quasi-steady RFP current flat-top phases lasting {approx} 90 ms can be obtained which terminate only when the amplifiers are switched off and V{sub T} is no longer sustained. (author) 9 refs., 6 figs.

Optimization of RFP formation and sustainment in RFX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martini, S.; Buffa, A.; Collarin, P.; Lorenzi, A. De; Fiorentin, P.; Innocente, P.; Marchiori, G.; Paccagnella, R.; Piovan, R.; Sonato, P.

1993-01-01

In the first months of 1993, the RFX experiment (R=2 m, a=0.46 m) has operated at reduced volt-second (6 V·s out of 15) to study the formation and sustainment of the RFP in a relatively safer power input regime, before increasing the parameters to reach the design value of 2 MA plasma current. At present the RFP configuration is obtained, similarly to the ETA-BETA II experiment, in the aided mode: a capacitor bank is discharged into the toroidal winding to produce an initial toroidal flux, Φ T , then the plasma current, I T , is induced by varying the poloidal flux stored in the magnetising winding; the free oscillation of the toroidal circuit continues and Φ T decays during the initial plasma current rise, until the toroidal field at the wall, B T (a), reverses and the toroidal circuit is crow-barred. The overall performance of the plasma during the RFP sustainment phase is strongly influenced by the control performed on density, toroidal field and plasma position during the formation phase. As soon as the RFP is obtained, a clear improvement of confinement is seen and the plasma current increases again until the applied toroidal voltage V T , which decreases exponentially, no longer matches the resistive drop. In RFX it is also possible to insert a pre-programmed flat-top power amplifier by which V T can be sustained and controlled in the range (0-60 V). In this way quasi-steady RFP current flat-top phases lasting ∼ 90 ms can be obtained which terminate only when the amplifiers are switched off and V T is no longer sustained. (author) 9 refs., 6 figs

Alignment of Healthy Dietary Patterns and Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Review12

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Miriam E; Hamm, Michael W; Hu, Frank B; Abrams, Steven A; Griffin, Timothy S

2016-01-01

To support food security for current and future generations, there is a need to understand the relation between sustainable diets and the health of a population. In recent years, a number of studies have investigated and compared different dietary patterns to better understand which foods and eating patterns have less of an environmental impact while meeting nutritional needs and promoting health. This systematic review (SR) of population-level dietary patterns and food sustainability extends and updates the SR that was conducted by the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, an expert committee commissioned by the federal government to inform dietary guidance as it relates to the committee’s original conclusions. In the original SR, 15 studies met the criteria for inclusion; since then, an additional 8 studies have been identified and included. The relations between dietary intake patterns and both health and environmental outcomes were compared across studies, with methodologies that included modeling, life cycle assessment, and land use analysis. Across studies, consistent evidence indicated that a dietary pattern higher in plant-based foods (e.g., vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts, whole grains) and lower in animal-based foods (especially red meat), as well as lower in total energy, is both healthier and associated with a lesser impact on the environment. This dietary pattern differs from current average consumption patterns in the United States. Our updated SR confirms and strengthens the conclusions of the original US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee SR, which found that adherence to several well-characterized dietary patterns, including vegetarian (with variations) diets, dietary guidelines–related diets, Mediterranean-style diets, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and other sustainable diet scenarios, promotes greater health and has a less negative impact on the environment than current average dietary intakes

Sodium-ion hybrid electrolyte battery for sustainable energy storage applications

Science.gov (United States)

Senthilkumar, S. T.; Abirami, Mari; Kim, Junsoo; Go, Wooseok; Hwang, Soo Min; Kim, Youngsik

2017-02-01

Sustainable, safe, and low-cost energy storage systems are essential for large-scale electrical energy storage. Herein, we report a sodium (Na)-ion hybrid electrolyte battery with a replaceable cathode system, which is separated from the Na metal anode by a Na superionic conducting ceramic. By using a fast Na-ion-intercalating nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) cathode along with an eco-friendly seawater catholyte, we demonstrate good cycling performance with an average discharge voltage of 3.4 V and capacity retention >80% over 100 cycles and >60% over 200 cycle. Remarkably, such high capacity retention is observed for both the initial as well as replaced cathodes. Moreover, a Na-metal-free hybrid electrolyte battery containing hard carbon as the anode exhibits an energy density of ∼146 Wh kg-1 at a current density of 10 mA g-1, which is comparable to that of lead-acid batteries and much higher than that of conventional aqueous Na-ion batteries. These results pave the way for further advances in sustainable energy storage technology.

Scaling of sustained ZT-40 M reversed field pinches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graham, J.; Haberstich, A.; Baker, D.A.; Buchenauer, C.J.; Caramana, E.J.; DiMarco, J.N.; Erickson, R.M.; Ingraham, J.C.; Jacobson, A.R.; Little, E.M.; Massey, R.S.; Phillips, J.A.; Schoenberg, K.F.; Schofield, A.E.; Thomas, K.S.; Watt, R.G.; Weber, P.G.

1993-12-01

Experiments aimed at evaluating the scaling properties of the ZT-40M Reversed-Field Pinch (RFP) facility were conducted in 1983 at Los Alamos. Sustained discharges were produced at nominal toroidal currents ranging from 60 to 240 kA. The standard fill pressure was kept close to the lower limit of the usable pressure range, and the scaling data were acquired at a fixed time in the discharges while the plasma was in a quasi-steady state. Scalings of the diameter-averaged electron density, electron temperature on axis, product of these two parameters, and of various definitions of the electrical resistivity are presented. Trends of the toroidal voltage, energy containment time, and poloidal beta are shown. The impurity contents, particle containment time, and total radiation losses are described, and results obtained with and without poloidal limiters are compared. In addition, the performance of the facility at higher than standard density and at a constant ratio of the toroidal current over the electron line density is examined

Sustainable diets within sustainable food systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Meybeck, Alexandre; Gitz, Vincent

2017-02-01

Sustainable diets and sustainable food systems are increasingly explored by diverse scientific disciplines. They are also recognised by the international community and called upon to orient action towards the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and the fulfilment of sustainable development goals. The aim of the present paper is to briefly consider some of the links between these two notions in order to facilitate the operationalisation of the concept of sustainable diet. The concept of sustainable diet was defined in 2010 combining two totally different perspectives: a nutrition perspective, focused on individuals, and a global sustainability perspective, in all its dimensions: environmental, economic and social. The nutrition perspective can be easily related to health outcomes. The global sustainability perspective is more difficult to analyse directly. We propose that it be measured as the contribution of a diet to the sustainability of food systems. Such an approach, covering the three dimensions of sustainability, enables identification of interactions and interrelations between food systems and diets. It provides opportunities to find levers of change towards sustainability. Diets are both the results and the drivers of food systems. The drivers of change for those variously involved, consumers and private individuals, are different, and can be triggered by different dimensions (heath, environment, social and cultural). Combining different dimensions and reasons for change can help facilitate the transition to sustainable diets, recognising the food system's specificities. The adoption of sustainable diets can be facilitated and enabled by food systems, and by appropriate policies and incentives.

Evaluation of Sustainable Practices within Project Management Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shah Satya

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research study is to investigate some of the sustainable practices within projects with a focus on social projects. The different research methodologies applied through this research consisted both primary and secondary research, including literature review and through case study. The stakeholder’s behavioural needs towards acting and implementing sustainable practices led to the adoption of sustainable practices within projects which are managed across profit and non-profit organisations. Nevertheless, lack of sustainable behaviour was outlined, and henceforth the integration of sustainable development within social projects is crucially important as such projects were identified as the drivers toward educating the society in order to help to produce generations of people who would be more sustainably aware. Currently, sustainable development is very often taken into account when it comes to managing projects. Nevertheless, if the adoption of sustainable practices is well established in some sectors such as construction, literature tends to demonstrate a lack of information regarding other sectors, especially within social projects. This research aims to investigate the adoption of sustainable practices within social projects and therefore to satisfy a literature gap.

Benchmarking Sustainability Practices Use throughout Industrial Construction Project Delivery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sungmin Yun

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Despite the efforts for sustainability studies in building and infrastructure construction, the sustainability issues in industrial construction remain understudied. Further, few studies evaluate sustainability and benchmark sustainability issues in industrial construction from a management perspective. This study presents a phase-based benchmarking framework for evaluating sustainability practices use focusing on industrial facilities project. Based on the framework, this study quantifies and assesses sustainability practices use, and further sorts the results by project phase and major project characteristics, including project type, project nature, and project delivery method. The results show that sustainability practices were implemented higher in the construction and startup phases relative to other phases, with a very broad range. An assessment by project type and project nature showed significant differences in sustainability practices use, but no significant difference in practices use by project delivery method. This study contributes to providing a benchmarking method for sustainability practices in industrial facilities projects at the project phase level. This study also discusses and provides an application of phase-based benchmarking for sustainability in industrial construction.

About the Role of Universities and Their Contribution to Sustainable Development

Science.gov (United States)

Filho, Walter Leal

2011-01-01

The debate on sustainable development is not new and the search for new approaches, methods and means to further the case of sustainability in a higher education context is needed today more than ever. This paper reviews the status of sustainable development at universities and presents issues which need to be considered in ensuring sustainable…

SUSTAINABILITY AS A PART OF BALANCED SCORECARD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LUCIE SARA ZAVODNA

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is a trend, which is more seriously discussed on the international and national level. But also companies in the local level are pushed to have strategies and visions, which enable better future for society, our planet and local economy. Sustainability is one of the conditions – it allows companies to implicate social, economic and environmental pillars to the company´s strategy and management. The question, which remains today is, how to measure social, economic and environmental impact on society? And more – how to enable future generations to have the same conditions as we have today? The paper provides format for a possible bridge between current strategic Balanced Scorecard system and future trend of sustainability. One of the special tools, which can be used for measuring sustainability, is Balanced Scorecard (by Kaplan and Norton in 1990s with the complement of sustainable metrics. The paper introduces three possible methods, which can be used by implementing sustainability into the Balanced Scorecard. One of these methods is described in detail. There is a focus on the sustainable indicators included as the fifth area in Balanced Scorecard model.

Sustainability as a part of balanced scorecard

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucie Sara Zavodna

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is a trend, which is more seriously discussed on the international and national level. But also companies in the local level are pushed to have strategies and visions, which enable better future for society, our planet and local economy. Sustainability is one of the conditions – it allows companies to implicate social, economic and environmental pillars to the company´s strategy and management. The question, which remains today is, how to measure social, economic and environmental impact on society? And more – how to enable future generations to have the same conditions as we have today? The paper provides format for a possible bridge between current strategic Balanced Scorecard system and future trend of sustainability. One of the special tools, which can be used for measuring sustainability, is Balanced Scorecard (by Kaplan and Norton in 1990s with the complement of sustainable metrics. The paper introduces three possible methods, which can be used by implementing sustainability into the Balanced Scorecard. One of these methods is described in detail. There is a focus on the sustainable indicators included as the fifth area in Balanced Scorecard model.

How current assessments of Sustainability Performance by Best Practice in the UN Global Compact challenge legitimacy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Thomas

The Scandinavian countries have been strong supporters of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) since the official launch in year 2000. This is best evidenced by the level of adoption of the UNGC, which is the most widely adopted broad sustainability-reporting standard in Scandinavia (Kjaergaard, submitted...... - in review). And since the UNGC in 2010 introduced the differentiation framework to their reporting standard, a significant number of Scandinavian corporations has chosen to report on an Advanced Level and self-assess their Sustainability Performance. Hence, in times where international opinion makers like...... element in assessing Sustainability Performance with the criteria for Advanced Level reporting in the UNGC differentiation framework. Though, previous empirical research by Kjaergaard (submitted, in review) has demonstrated that although the introduction of this framework generally should be acknowledged...

Sprawl and sustainable urban development in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maksin-Mićić Marija

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Over 50 years urban development in Europe has been affected by extensive urban sprawl. Environmental, economic and social impacts of long lasting sprawl are threatening urban identity, urban culture and cultural identity of European territory. Last two decades the main concept in European planning and governance system has been the sustainable development, namely sustainable urban development and its implementation. We ought to be realistic about the possibilities to counter sprawl. Realistic seams to steer sprawling tendencies in more suitable and sustainable manner, so called smart urban sprawl. This paper analyses the planning concepts and gives the brief review of current policies for steering the urban sprawl in EU, which are considered to be of importance in achieving more sustainable urban development and efficient urban management in Serbia.

Building a Metaframework for Sustainable Transport Indicators

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cornet, Yannick; Gudmundsson, Henrik

2015-01-01

and operationalize sustainability for transportation-related planning and decision making. Often these studies presented frameworks that would allow sustainability indicators and measures to be included in, for example, agency strategies and practices. Moreover, some papers suggested criteria for the selection...... of individual indicators and performance measures. The studies, however, did not always agree on the definition of a framework or how to use one to make sustainability-based decisions, and they tended to differ on underscored aspects and concerns. The current study addressed the issue of frameworks more...... generically and explored what was termed a "metaframework" with a set of associated criteria to guide the framing of indicators for sustainable transportation. On the basis of an explicit framework theory, the three functions of conceptualization, operationalization, and utilization were found to provide...

A preliminary study on the relevancy of sustainable building design ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This preliminary study aims to explore the relationship between sustainable building design paradigms and commercial property depreciation, to assist in the understanding of sustainable building design impact towards commercial building value and rental de employs the qualitative method and analyses valuers' current ...

Sustained Attention Ability Affects Simple Picture Naming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suzanne R. Jongman

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Sustained attention has previously been shown as a requirement for language production. However, this is mostly evident for difficult conditions, such as a dual-task situation. The current study provides corroborating evidence that this relationship holds even for simple picture naming. Sustained attention ability, indexed both by participants’ reaction times and individuals’ hit rate (the proportion of correctly detected targets on a digit discrimination task, correlated with picture naming latencies. Individuals with poor sustained attention were consistently slower and their RT distributions were more positively skewed when naming pictures compared to individuals with better sustained attention. Additionally, the need to sustain attention was manipulated by changing the speed of stimulus presentation. Research has suggested that fast event rates tax sustained attention resources to a larger degree than slow event rates. However, in this study the fast event rate did not result in increased difficulty, neither for the picture naming task nor for the sustained attention task. Instead, the results point to a speed-accuracy trade-off in the sustained attention task (lower accuracy but faster responses in the fast than in the slow event rate, and to a benefit for faster rates in the picture naming task (shorter naming latencies with no difference in accuracy. Performance on both tasks was largely comparable, supporting previous findings that sustained attention is called upon during language production.